What are the causes of mobbing? | Mobbing

What are the causes of mobbing?

Mobbing occurs in principle everywhere where people come together, such as at school, at work, in clubs or on the Internet. This kind of dominating behavior seems to be fundamentally anchored in our social life and at least in its basic features it seems to originate from the need for rank and hierarchy of humans. The reasons for bullying are therefore usually based on the attacker’s desire for recognition, his personal conflicts and the social structures in which he finds himself, such as school or the workplace. Typical promoting stress factors in these environments are, for example, a high workload, a bad working atmosphere, hierarchical structures or unclear roles and tasks, and the resulting excessive demands. Dominant characters like to take this stress out on their fellow human beings, while reserved people are more likely to be the target of these attacks.

Is mobbing punishable?

Mobbing as such is not listed in the penal code and therefore not punishable. However, the individual acts within the scope of mobbing are very well illegal if they constitute the elements of the offence such as coercion, slander or insult. In addition, mobbing can be considered bodily injury if the victim becomes mentally or physically ill as a result of the harassment and is certified by a doctor.

In Germany there is thus no uniform law against Mobbing, probably however against the individual Mobbing actions. It can become therefore difficult in individual cases to make legal claims valid if the individual facts must be proven only. That is particularly with the Cyber Mobbing, thus Mobbing in the Internet, a large problem.

This includes, for example, the distribution of personal pictures or videos glorifying violence or mocking in social media such as Facebook. On the Internet, however, not only the individual criminal acts must be clarified, but also the identity of the accused person. If the perpetrator is successfully convicted, whether online, at school or at work, he or she is threatened with fines or even imprisonment for up to 3 years, depending on the circumstances.