School Bullying in Different Cultures Eastern and Western Perspectives

School bullying is widely recognized as an international problem, but publications have focussed on the Western tradition of research. A long tradition of research in Japan and South Korea, and more recently in mainland China and Hong Kong, has had much less exposure. There are important and interesting differences in the nature of school bullying in Eastern and Western countries, as the first two parts of this book demonstrate. The third part examines possible reasons for these differences - methodological issues, school systems, societal values and linguistic issues. The final part looks at the implications for interventions to reduce school bullying and what we can learn from experiences in other countries. This is the first volume to bring together these perspectives on school bullying from a range of Eastern as well as Western countries.

Part I. Social Awareness and Research on Bullying and Cyberbullying: 1. Research on bullying in schools in European countries Peter K. Smith; 2. Research on bullying in North America Sheri Bauman, Julian Mendez, Wendy Craig and Faye Mishna; 3. Research on bullying in schools in Australasia Phillip Slee, Keith Sullivan, Vanessa A. Green, Susie Harcourt and Tegan E. Lynch; 4. Bullying (ijime) and related problems in Japan: history and research Yuichi Toda; 5. The Korean research tradition on wang-ta Keumjoo Kwak and Seung-ha Lee; 6. Research on school bullying in mainland China Wenxin Zhang, Liang Chen and Guanghui Chen; 7. Bullying in Hong Kong schools Siu-Fung Lin and Chi Leung Lai; Part II. Direct Cross-National Data Comparisons: 8. Comparisons between English bullying and Japanese ijime Tomoyuki Kanetsuna; 9. Children's experience of and attitudes towards bullying and victimization: a cross-cultural comparison between China and England Linqin Ji, Wenxin Zhang and Kevin Jones; 10. Peer support in England, Japan and South Korea Helen Cowie and Alana James; Part III. Issues in Cross-National Comparisons: 11. Theoretical and methodological issues in making cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons Esther Guillaume and David Funder; 12. Educational systems: a basis for some comparative perspectives John Jessel; 13. Individualism/collectivism as predictors of relational and physical victimization in Japan and Austria Dagmar Strohmeier, Takuya Yanagida and Yuichi Toda; 14. Linguistic issues in studying bullying-related phenomena: data from a revised cartoon task Peter K. Smith, Keumjoo Kwak, Rubina Hanif, Tomoyuki Kanetsuna, Jess Mahdavi, Siu-Fung Lin, Ragnar Olafsson and Zehra Ucanok; Part IV. Practical Measures to Reduce Bullying Problems: 15. Actions to prevent bullying in Western countries Peter K. Smith, Fran Thompson, Wendy Craig, Irene Hong, Phillip Slee, Keith Sullivan and Vanessa A. Green; 16. Actions against ijime and net-ijime in Japan Tomoyuki Kanetsuna and Yuichi Toda; 17. Intervention programs in South Korea Keumjoo Kwak; 18. Interventions against bullying in mainland China Wenxin Zhang; 19. Interventions against bullying in Hong Kong Siu-Fung Lin and Chi Leung Lai; Part V. Conclusions: 20. Reflections on bullying in Eastern and Western perspectives Peter K. Smith, Keumjoo Kwak and Yuichi Toda.

Peter K. Smith is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the Unit for School and Family Studies in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Keumjoo Kwak is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University, South Korea.
Yuichi Toda is a Professor at Osaka Kyoiku University (Osaka University of Education), Japan.