What is the Difference Between Bullying and Harassment?

Bullying and harassment are often used interchangeably when discussing hurtful or harmful behavior. While they share similarities, there are key differences between the two:

1. Definition: Bullying is deliberate, disrespectful, and repeated behavior towards a target for the bully's gain, while harassment is defined as "unwanted conduct that violates people's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment".
2. Target: Bullying often targets individuals who are perceived as easily victimized, while harassment targets individuals based on their individual differences, such as race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.
3. Behavior: Bullying tends to be more subtle and psychological, with actions that can be seen as fairly harmless when viewed in isolation. Harassment, on the other hand, is often more obvious, with offensive language or actions directed towards the target in front of others.
4. Legality: Workplace bullying is not currently considered a legal offense in some states, while workplace harassment is. The legal status of bullying may vary depending on the state legislation and the severity of the behavior.
5. Impact: Targets of workplace bullying may experience higher levels of stress, anger, anxiety, and lower overall well-being compared to targets of workplace harassment.

In summary, bullying and harassment both involve abusive and harmful behavior, but they differ in terms of their definition, target, behavior, legality, and impact on the target.

Comparative Table: Bullying vs Harassment

The difference between bullying and harassment lies in the characteristics of the behavior directed at the target. While both involve power and control, actions that hurt or harm another person physically or emotionally, and an imbalance of power between the target and the individual demonstrating the negative behavior, harassment is specifically based on a protected class. Protected classes include race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, and national origin. Here is a table summarizing the differences between bullying and harassment:

In summary, the main difference between bullying and harassment is that harassment is specifically directed at a person based on their membership in a protected class, while bullying is not.