Bullying or Rough-and-Tumble Play? Striving for Safety in the Urban Environment

Abstract

“Rough-and-tumble play” is an ethological term for a rigorous pseudo-aggressive interaction of social animals. Rough-and-tumble play seems to be foremost perceived by [adult] humans as something childish (or even boyish) and in general connotes with the childhood, though in fact is also a significant part of life for adolescents and adults. Rough-and-tumble play takes various forms and fulfills different (sometimes opposite) functions: it might ease or tangle the communication flow, create an ambivalently risky situation and stimulate partners’ interest in each other’s emotions and feelings. Nevertheless, as a part of the “children’s world”—as something intimate, private, non-public—rough-and-tumble play is rarely discussed in connection with urban problematics and issues related to the structure of the [adult] urban space. On the other hand, a growing tendency to discuss bullying problematics is developing and becoming firmly established in urban settings. This article presents a critical review of theoretical discourse and practical research of bullying and rough-and-tumble play, and is oriented towards stimulating a transdisciplinary discussion on such issues as the role of risky play in the life of children, adolescents and adults, the distinction between rough-and-tumble play and bullying, and the presence of children and animals in the urban space. To discuss such issues, different approaches to the conceptualization and research of risky behavior are considered with special attention to such questions as how bystanders can distinguish between bullying and rough play, and how the environment and inner dynamics of the children’s and adolescents’ pseudo-aggressive interaction might be influenced by the active involvement of adults (teachers, parents and others). A general problem of a “safe” environment (e.g., urban one) is discussed in different respects: from the ambivalence of danger/safety criteria to the questions of how a feeling of safety affects the tendency to engage in risky behavior. The main conclusion of the review is that it would be preferable to shift from a strategy of imposing disciplinary prohibitions on bullying (which may result in displacing and marking as “non-normative” all kinds of intensive play and pseudo-aggressive interaction) to a preemptive strategy of (adult) involvement in the creation of a “peaceful environment”, which would allow the participants of rough-and-tumble play to pay enough attention to each other’s feelings and emotions, thus keeping pseudo-aggression playful and preventing it from turning into bullying.