Source: Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Date of Publication: 2006
Author(s): Robert Faris
Title: "Race, Social Networks, and School Bullying"
DOI: SOURCE REQUIRED
Subject Matter: Sociology, School Bullying, Race, Peer Networks, Adolescent Behavior
General Observations:
35% of students engaged in bullying; 32% reported being bullied.
12% experienced both roles (bully and victim).
60% of bullies and victims reported weekly bullying.
Subgroup Analysis:
Latinos had the highest bullying outdegree (0.91) and indegree (0.86).
White students were more often victims, despite lower perpetration rates.
Girls reported higher mean indegree and outdegree than boys.
Most bullying occurred within racial and gender groups.
Other Significant Data Points:
Direct verbal abuse was most common; physical violence less so.
African-American students more often used physical bullying; White students favored indirect aggression (e.g., rumor-spreading).
Peer nominations revealed more bullying than self-reports.
Primary Observations:
Bullying behavior aligns with two models: deviance/delinquency and “status insecurity.”
Bullies often have aggressive peers, low school/parent attachment, and depressive symptoms — but are also socially popular, engaged in extracurriculars, and from higher SES backgrounds.
Minority students gain more popularity from bullying than White peers.
Subgroup Trends:
Interracial bullying was less common than intraracial bullying.
Racial diversity increased total bullying but had no impact on interracial bullying rates.
Specific Case Analysis:
Dyadic analysis (bully-victim pairs) showed bullying was most common between socially close individuals with small differences in social status.
More attractive and physically developed teens were more likely to be bullies.
Strengths of the Study:
Innovative network-based measure of bullying using mutual peer nominations.
Nuanced treatment of race beyond “control variable” status.
Cross-chapter integration of sociological, psychological, and criminological theories.
Limitations of the Study:
Focused on rural North Carolina; generalizability to urban or national populations is limited.
Did not analyze subsequent waves due to data unavailability.
Cultural and psychological interpretations occasionally lack rigor in operationalization.
This dissertation is foundational for exploring racialized patterns in bullying as social and networked phenomena.
It offers quantitative backing for minority aggressor patterns, potentially aligning with broader critiques of how racial dynamics are normalized or obscured in academic framing.
Reinforces how institutional and peer-level factors can incentivize aggression, especially in high-diversity, low-cohesion environments.
The study acknowledges racial disparities in bullying rates but avoids attributing moral agency to minority aggressors. Instead, explanations defer to structural oppression narratives (e.g., “oppositional culture” or “status insecurity”).
White students’ higher victimization is noted but never problematized as a racialized pattern.
Author exhibits deference to DEI-aligned theories (e.g., “cool pose” and “acting White” penalties) while bypassing exploration of whether minority bullying may reflect targeted aggression toward White peers.
No exploration of anti-White motives or racial animus despite data showing asymmetric bullying directionality.