Reflections on Resistance to Bullying: Between Concern and Unawareness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65310/ate17873Keywords:
bullying, moral resistance, care ethics, social unawareness, reflective narrative.Abstract
This study explores resistance to bullying through a reflective-narrative approach that examines the tension between care and social unawareness within a school context. Drawing on the experience of an anti-bullying seminar conducted at a junior high school, the research analyzes students’ narratives, observations, and anonymous reflections as social texts that reveal moral positions and everyday practices. The findings indicate that care emerges as a subtle form of moral resistance, expressed through empathy, listening, and symbolic support for victims, while unawareness is sustained through normalization, cultural expectations, power relations, and digital interactions. Reflective processes enable students to reinterpret joking, silence, and conformity as practices that may contribute to harm, generating cognitive and ethical shifts. Rather than viewing resistance as a single act, the study highlights it as a gradual process rooted in reflection and relational awareness. By connecting personal experiences with ethical principles and human dignity, this research contributes to broader discussions on bullying as a structural and moral issue. The study underscores the importance of reflective spaces in education to foster critical awareness and sustainable anti-bullying cultures.
Downloads
References
hednnnAkella, D., & Sanusi, T. (2023). Counteracting Workplace Bullying: A Qualitative Analysis of Employees' Resistance Strategies Within the Service Industry. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 23(4).
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193-209.
Camm, C. F., Joshi, A., Eftekhari, H., O'Flynn, R., Dobson, R., Curzen, N., ... & Allen, C. (2023). Joint British Societies’ position statement on bullying, harassment and discrimination in cardiology. Heart, 109(15), e1-e1. https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2023-322445.
Dagostino-Kalniz, V. (2025). Navigating Fear & Resistance: The Path to Conscientização in Social Foundations of Education. Critical Questions in Education, 16(1), 87-106.
El Boghdady, M. (2024). Reporting unacceptable behaviour in the workplace and surgical leaders’ reflections on the new ASiT guidance. The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 106(1), 26-30. https://doi.org/10.1308/rcsbull.2024.8.
Espelage, D. L., & Swearer, S. M. (Eds.). (2003). Research on school bullying. School Psychology Review, 32(3), 365-383.
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality: Volume 1: An Introduction. Pantheon Books.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Harvard University Press.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Sage Publications.
Noddings, N. (2002). Starting at home: Caring and social policy. University of California Press.
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Blackwell Publishers.
Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (PBB). (1948). Deklarasi Universal Hak Asasi Manusia. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
Pu, J., Gan, X., Pu, Z., Jin, X., Zhu, X., & Wei, C. (2024). The healthy context paradox between bullying and emotional adaptation: a moderated mediating effect. Psychology research and behavior management, 1661-1675. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S444400.
Sambrook, S. (2025). An organisational autoethnography of learning to manage academic workplace bullying through micro-resistance and activism. Management Learning, 56(4), 684-702. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076241289174.
Sari, D. P. (2020). Bullying di sekolah: Perspektif budaya kolektivisme di Indonesia. Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial, 12(2), 145-160.
Shute, R. H. (2025). Rethinking What We Mean by Bias-Based Bullying: Applying the Social Identity Approach and Related Theories. Improving Schools, 13654802251401671. https://doi.org/10.1177/13654802251401671.
Sinha, M., Ramey, R., Gala, P., & Wilkerson, A. W. (2025). Beyond privacy: longitudinal ZMET analysis of thoughts and feelings. Journal of Services Marketing, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2025-0505.
Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(4), 376-385.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Violence against children. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-children.
Yu, X., & Reiss, M. J. (2025). Why do victims remain silent? An ethical reflection on the phenomenon of school bullying in China. Ethics and Education, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2025.2503641.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Naufal Hibatul Wafi, Windi Putri Oktapiani, Intan Nuraeni, Zahra Davika Mulyani (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.










