The Social Construction Of School Bullying: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Abstract

This study aimed to describe junior high school students' experiences and perceptions of bullying in Pangkalpinang and to examine how these experiences construct the social meaning of bullying through George Herbert Mead's symbolic interactionism. A descriptive quantitative design was employed, complemented by thematic analysis of students' responses to open-ended questions. The study involved 324 students from five junior high schools in Pangkalpinang. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations), while qualitative data were analyzed thematically using Mead's concepts of significant symbols, meaning, self, role-taking, significant others, and the generalized other. The results showed that verbal and relational bullying were the most frequently experienced forms of bullying. Although students generally perceived school policies and anti-bullying measures positively, many remained reluctant to report or intervene in bullying incidents. The qualitative findings revealed that bullying is socially constructed through interconnected processes of symbolic interaction, meaning construction, self-formation, role-taking, the influence of significant others, and the generalized other. This study concludes that Mead's six central concepts operate not as isolated analytical categories but as a dynamic sequence of social processes through which bullying is socially produced, reproduced, normalized, and potentially transformed. These findings provide a sociological perspective for strengthening school-based bullying prevention.