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"Bosses Are Really Mean These Days": The Discursive Politics of Representation and Blame in Workplace Bullying

Although the topic of bullying generally leads to discussions of the dynamicsbetween and among children, bullying increasingly involves complex power structuresamong adults in their workplaces. The purpose of this project is to broaden theunderstanding of workplace bullying in the United States through the critical analysis ofpopular media and U.S. legal discourses. The analysis unravels the ways in whichbullying is normalized, individualized, perpetuated and rewarded. It seeks to denaturalizethe phenomenon and situate bullying as a construction that can bedeconstructed and addressed. It interrogates the messages of resistance, agency andblame as productive and disciplinary strategies that permit bullying to operate withdiscursive and material impunity. Legal prohibitions alone will not prove to be thepanacea but, along with reframed discourses, they will help undermine the naturalizationof bullying in the workplace and open new avenues for exploring solutions andalternatives.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/193402
Date January 2010
CreatorsTracy-Ramirez, Alexandra
ContributorsCroissant, Jennifer, Croissant, Jennifer, Milem, Jeffrey, Maccorquodale, Patricia
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Thesis
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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