The Social Construction of Bullies and Victims: an Explorative Study of Italian and English Newspapers

The research analyses the social construction of bullies and victims in a sample of Italian (La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera) and English newspapers (The Guardian and The Times) applying a classical content analysis methodology. The main scientific literature on social constructionism, mass media and social construction of crime and youth crime is reviewed as well as the theoretical and research contributions on bullying. The images of bullies and victims delivered by Italian and English newspapers are further assessed and compared to the extant literature on the topic. Differences emerge both between newspapers and in regard to theoretical and research contributions, underlying specific stereotyped ways of newspapers to depict bullies and victims. Findings are consistent with those of previous research investigating the way mass media have depicted youth crime and in particular school violence.