Bully Nation: How the American Establishment Creates a Bullying Society

by Charles Derber, Yale Magrass

It's not just the bully in the schoolyard that we should be worried about. The one-on-one bullying that dominates the national conversation, this timely book suggests, is actually part of a larger problem—a natural outcome of the bullying nature of our national institutions. And as long as the United States embraces militarism and aggressive capitalism, systemic bullying and all its impacts—at home and abroad—will persist as a major crisis.

Bullying looks very similar on the personal and institutional it involves an imbalance of power and behavior that consistently undermines its victim, securing compliance and submission and reinforcing the bully's sense of superiority and legitimacy. The similarity, this book tells us, is not a coincidence. Applying the concept of the “sociological imagination,” which links private problems and public issues, authors Charles Derber and Yale Magrass argue that individual bullying is an outgrowth—and a necessary function—of a larger social phenomenon. Bullying is seen here as a structural problem arising from systems organized around steep power hierarchies—from the halls of the Pentagon, Congress, and corporate offices to classrooms and playing fields and the environment. Dominant people and institutions need to create a culture in which violence and aggression are seen as natural and one where individuals compete over who will be bully or victim, and each is seen as deserving their fate within this hierarchy. The larger the inequalities of power in society, or among nations, or even across species, the more likely it is that both institutional and personal bullying will become commonplace. The authors see the life-long psychological scars interpersonal bullying can bring, but believe it is almost impossible to reduce such bullying without first challenging the institutions that breed and encourage it.

In the United States a system of intertwined corporations, governments, and military institutions carries out “systemic bullying” to create profits and sustain its own power. While acknowledging the diversity and savagery of many other bully nations, the authors contend that America, as the most powerful nation in the world—and one that aggressively promotes its system as a model—merits special attention. It is only by recognizing the bullying built into this model that we can address the real problem, and in this, Bully Nation makes a hopeful beginning.

Genres: Nonfiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2016

About the author

Charles Derber is Professor of Sociology at Boston College and has written 17 books - on politics, economy, capitalism, war, the culture wars, culture and conversation, and social change. He writes for and has been reviewed in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Truthout, and other leading media. His books are translated into Chinese, Korean, Tamil, German and Polish- and he is a bestseller in South Korea, done extended book tours in German bookstores and blues coffee houses, and has lectured in Italy in June for seven years. Derber is a public intellectual who believes that serious ideas should be written in an accessible and entertaining style.His most recent book is Sociopathic Society: A People's Sociology of the United States. He is also a life-long social justice activist and a terrific public speaker - so contact him and try to lure him to a public talk. Check out his Youtube presentations. He is married and has a beautiful Wheaten Terrier dog named Mojo, who lives up to his name.

Reviews

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

You aren’t supposed to consciously connect common bullying on playgrounds with a critical analysis of our corporate, militarized society. C Wright Mills shows how “reductionism of American thinking” keeps us from connecting personal issues to social/public ones. But bullying is endemic to American culture historically as well. Between 1882 to 1968, 3,446 blacks were lynched. Let’s look at American leaders as bullies. Truman dropped the bomb on Hiroshima then said, “God told me to do it.” Followed by “I don’t care what the cry-babies say”. Then comes Eisenhower who offers the French two nuclear bombs to take out Ho Chi Minh’s forces (even though most of the casualties would be civilian). Luckily, the more civilized French did not believe in nuclear bullying. Then, Kennedy openly threatens Russia with nuclear attack. Then, Nixon threatens Vietnam many times with nuclear attack (the transcripts are chilling). British schools were designed to produce gentlemen; American schools were designed to create a labor force. “As motivation to get good grades goes up, motivation to explore ideas goes down.” From a corporate view, “learning can lead to questioning”, instead their goal is to destroy, not build, a love of learning. From a world view, “In a very real sense, the Palestinians are paying the price for the 2,000 years of oppression, even though they had little to do with it.” Israelis replaced their language Yiddish, at the time of the holocaust, with Hebrew, which was the language of “an ancient warrior God.” With Yiddish, Menachem Begin said he knew they could never create and army or defend themselves with planes (because Yiddish was not the language of the bully). But in the end, the book returns to America saying, “like King, if we are to end bullying, we must speak out against the biggest bully of all”, our government. Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman said recently that in taking the Iraq War into Syria, Mr. Obama “is not only betraying the electoral majorities who twice voted him into office on his promise to end Bush-era abuses of executive authority. He is also betraying the Constitution he swore to uphold.” We have created a cycle of bullying, in a recent example, the U.S. “has to” get rid the “bully” Saddam Hussein but in his place, comes a this far worse bully, ISIS. Violence begets violence and it’s time to break the cycle. Noam Chomsky and Oliver Stone loved this Bully Nation book and you will too…

[Paul Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A personal bullying problem is an indication that a society at large has a problem. The society’s problem lies in “militaristic capitalism” (capitalistic hierarchy & a need for simultaneously violent and obedient people in the military). This society’s bullying is deeply ingrained in its structures (gigantic & powerful corporations, Wall Street bankers, politicians, media, churches, etc.). Therefore bullying should not be seen only as a psychological problem, it’s much more. Everyone who has studied sociology knows this, but this book is still a good reminder of the truth. The more the people know about this, the better the chances are that the future generations will be able to build a better world. I highly recommend this book.

[Eclipse Moonflower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Core Concept directly from the book: "The larger the inequalities of power in society, or among nations, or even across species, the more likely it is that both institutional and personal bullying will become commonplace."

Although Charles Derber (Professor in the Department of Sociology at Boston College) and Yale R. Magrass (Chancellor Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth)  state on pg. 209 that bullying will never be eradicated due to evolutionary biology, they go on to say this doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to reduce suffering in any way possible - essentially welcoming Effective Altruism (despite never being directly stated in the book). It is assumed that the most powerful course of action would be for America - and all countries universally - to agree and let go of the current desire for global dominance.

From a Feminist point of view, Capitalism establishes social relations that facilitate the exploitation of women, and - just like Militarism - it functions as inseperable from gender. In contrast, the Patriarchy provides the justifications for these actions, devalueing and deriving maximum benefit from an entire population through institutions - a painfully obvious glorification of priviledged masculinity traits and a byproduct of colonization, leading to a lack of equitable citizens. In fact, capitalism is so dependent on the patriarchy that any threats made are ultimately threats to capitalism as well. What society considers “normal” or otherwise essential items functions as tools of oppression, and sentient life is treated as commodity as environments continue to be "bludgeoned" (the author's term for environmental bullying).

The book continues on to explain how win-lose situations are hypocritically manipulated (through external incentivization) to mass create those with "soldier" (cultivation of compliance) mindsets, hence effecting those during any part of the aging cycle (including adults within the workforce, the functioning of the typical Nuclear Family, etc.) Latent bullying is transformed into active bullying, an explanation of how we got to the devastating point we are at now (Trump's second presidency). Anyone who "rebels" is seen as a terrorist, ostracized, or otherwise threatened to keep this system of double standards in place.

Overall this is a groundbreaking and unbiased text, meant to assist us in our quest for a better society for all. I found the chapter on Family surprisingly enlightening, although I enjoyed the entire text. Despite the grim reality, a sense of urgency is nontheless instilled in the reader, motivation for future change and anti-bullying awareness. A woefully underrated read that I recommend to everyone.

"The mouse becomes a terrorist bully threatening a lion."
- Appendix [highlighting the complexities of bullying hierarchies]

[Rus Funk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started with such promise. Reflection an analysis and strategies to address bullying by examining the socio-economic-political-cultural forces that create a bullying environment; and shifting the approach away from purely individual approaches is critical.
This books provides sone initial analysis in the first 4 chapters, but after that it loses nearly all of its value. And the last chapter “are there solutions” actually provides none.
Very disappointed that this book proved to be, ultimately, so completely lame