Bullying has been the subject of study and interventions for researchers, educators and health professionals around the world because it is a relational phenomenon commonly observed in groups, especially schools. It is characterized by the presence of aggressive, brutal, deliberate and repetitive behaviors adopted by one or more persons against another, with no obvious motivation. Aiming to enrich the discussions about the concept of bullying, this phenomenon was described in this article using systemic relational approach. For both we related bullying with the assumptions of complexity, instability and intersubjectivity that underpin this understanding, as well as with the Bioecologica Theory of Human Development. The findings suggest that understanding and intervention cannot be reduced solely to the individual characteristics of the individuals involved, nor to an author-target interaction that ignores the diversity of people and systems and the complex web of relationships involved in its maintenance.
Bullying; school violence; systemic epistemology