Increasing Social Inequality Leading to More Bullying in Russian Schools, Scholars Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 1 – Increasing income inequality in Russia is leading to more bullying in Russian schools, most often by students from better-off families against those who are less well-off but sometimes by poorer again wealthier students, according to Artur Reyan and Maria Novikova, educational specialists at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

            The two document this phenomenon and call for Russia to take steps against it as other countries have done (A.A. Reyan and M.A. Novikova, “Bullying among Upper School Pupils” (in Russian, Mir psikhologii, 97:1(2019): 165-177 at publications.hse.ru/articles/227157734) summarized by Olga Sobolevskaya at iq.hse.ru/news/292227428.html).

            Reyan and Novikova surveyed 870 pupils in various schools in five federal districts.  As researchers in other countries have found, they showed that most acts of bullying are by wealthier students against poorer ones, although on occasion, poorer students attack wealthier ones as well.

            Approximately a third of all Russian pupils are either perpetrators or victims of bullying, Reyan and Novikova say, but nearly twice that many have observed it. According to them, all three groups – perpetrators, victims and observers – suffer as a result because of the atmosphere bullying creates.

            The pupils most likely to report being victims are those who come from less well-off families. Those most likely to engage in bullying others come from better off families and especially from those with what the two call “an authoritarian style of child rearing” that often leaves children starved for attention and affection.

            But the study concluded that there are other causes of bullying as well, including “a high level of distrust in society, pressure from teachers, poor school work, the crises teenagers experience in growing up, and problems with health.  These may be more important than income differentiation or may compound that.

            Unfortunately, Reyan and Novikova say, the Russian authorities have not yet adopted the kind of anti-bullying strategies other countries have used with success.