„Bullying is part our culture, so bullying in schools just reflects that. And anyway, bullying can have some positive effects” . This paper will look at the above statement and shall be discus the key aspects it addresses. Firstly a definition of culture will be given so that the culture of bullying within society can then be discussed. Following on from looking at bullying within society, bullying within schools shall be looked at, including the prevalence and severity of it, to compare and contrast what goes on in schools to what happens in society as a whole. To finish the notion that bullying can have some positive effects shall be discussed, and an overall summery of the above statement shall be given. Culture has been defined by many different people, in many different ways. Haralambos and Holborn (1990, p.2) defined it as a "way of life" that is learnt. Bauman (1999) looked at culture in a number of ways, he looked at; culture as a concept, culture as a structure and culture as praxis. It is when looking at his views on culture as a concept he states culture is used to explain “difference s between communities of people” (p.13), by splitting them into a number of small groups, almost as a way to segment different communities. And there have been many others who have provided definitions for culture such as; Ned (1984), Hofstede (2003) and Berlage (2009). It is clear that there is a large amount of debate about the precise meaning of culture, however Raymond Williams (1976) who carried out research into the definition of culture, and he has identified three broad categories of the definition in general use: A general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development A particular way of life, whether it is of a people, a period of history, a group or humanity in general The works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity. Raymond Williams, 1976, p.90
