_11zon.jpg)
Last Updated: 3 months ago
By: Maria Fitriah, S.Sos., M.Si
Lecturer, Communication Science Study Program
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
Universitas Djuanda
Bullying is often perceived as an individual problem within society, where the perpetrator is seen as aggressive and the victim as weak. As a result, bullying is commonly understood merely as an issue of personal character. In fact, bullying is not simply violence through physical or verbal acts, but a form of social messaging repeatedly conveyed about power, domination, and one’s social position.
Mockery, insults, threats, or social exclusion in bullying contain symbols that shape social reality. Bullying functions as a mechanism of collective communication that reinforces group identity. Within this process, social groups are formed—determining who is considered strong, who is positioned as inferior, and who is deemed acceptable. Today, demeaning jokes are often considered normal. A concerning social phenomenon is the everyday use of humor that labels differences related to disability, gender, or social background.
These conditions reflect unequal power relations. Such inequality creates unsafe communication environments that are vulnerable to repeated symbolic violence known as bullying. From a communication perspective, bullying actions are rich in meaning. Perpetrators engage in communicative practices with specific social purposes. Through the messages they deliver, perpetrators construct meaning and assert their position within social relationships. This indicates that perpetrators are, in fact, engaging in communication that reflects an underlying crisis.
Perpetrators send messages of superiority to their social environment, not merely attacking an individual. The social message conveyed through bullying signifies that the perpetrator occupies a higher position than the victim.
Therefore, perpetrators employ a language of domination during social interactions. The message conveyed is not simply “I am attacking you,” but rather “I am stronger.” Why is this so? Because perpetrators perceive victims as powerless or belonging to a weaker group. This construction leads perpetrators to engage in degrading actions as a means of asserting power within the social space.
Many acts of bullying occur in the presence of others. Feedback in the form of laughter from those around serves as implicit support that reinforces bullying behavior. Ultimately, bullying becomes a communication strategy to gain social legitimacy.
Perpetrators turn victims into “objects” that function as “media” in their pursuit of social recognition. Self-image and recognition within a group environment become highly significant. Aggressive acts in bullying are perceived as a quick way to attract attention through “extreme” actions within social communication.
One of the basic needs individuals often have is to be accepted by a group. When bullying occurs, collective responses—such as shared laughter that degrades the victim—create a sense of solidarity. Ironically, this solidarity is illusory. In the long term, this culturally embedded communication crisis shapes social norms that regard domination as a legitimate way to gain social recognition, at the expense of harming others.
The way groups build solidarity must be transformed within a positive communication culture. Social recognition within a group should not be achieved through domination. Instead, overcoming the communication crisis in social solidarity requires fostering empathy, mutual respect, and inclusive communication. In doing so, social spaces for bullying will gradually diminish.
Bullying will never be resolved as long as society continues to interpret mockery as humor, domination as confidence, and exclusion as a normal part of social dynamics. Solutions to bullying must begin with changes in how we communicate. This requires a paradigm shift that recognizes bullying as a failure of social communication. The focus should move beyond merely prohibiting violence toward building relational social awareness.
Collaboration among educational institutions, communities, government, media, and other stakeholders is essential in addressing bullying through social interaction. The family serves as a crucial foundation for bullying prevention. Within families, members learn communication patterns and values that later influence their behavior in society. The ultimate hope is not a world without conflict, but a social space capable of managing differences through dialogue—free from symbolic violence such as bullying.