Max reflects on the challenges he faced at school. He remembers experiencing social exclusion, despite on the surface appearing to have a good group of friends around him. He says it wasn’t until after he left school that he started to develop the emotional intelligence and self awareness to fully understand what was happening to him and how to deal with it.
Social Exclusion is now recognised as a subgroup of bullying. This means that the idea of excluding someone repeatedly, aggressively and on purpose with the intent to cause emotional harm to them, is right up there with verbal, physical and cyber bullying. Social exclusion is bullying when a person feels alone or left out because of the manipulation of their peer relationships and social status.
Social Exclusion is not bullying when, say, people make new friends and distance themselves from old friends. That old friend may feel as though they are being “socially excluded” but if there is no aggressive intention to cause harm, they are not being bullied.
There is a difference but it is not always easy to tell the difference.
Examples of Social Exclusion:
- Leaving someone out on purpose when you know they will be hurt by your actions.
- Telling other students not to be friends with someone.
- Embarrassing someone in public when someone tries to approach the group.
