In some respects, yeah, definitely. Just try deviating from societal gender norms for an example of that. Plenty of people on this very site have said people who do that are the worst, most annoying people and have expressed worryingly violent thoughts towards them just for being who they are. If that isn't socially condoned bullying, I don't know what is.
Especially in your adolescence and early childhood, deviating from norms, especially gender norms, almost always incurs bullying, unless the deviation is lucky enough to become a trend, like glasses were at my primary school - nobody was bullied for that, but everyone copied the trend in order to have the status of wearing glasses. I'm sure a lot of people adopt the sort of hypermasculine, hyperfeminine behaviours you see in a lot of adolescents either to avoid being bullied or to attract the power of being a bully against people who don't conform to that norm.
Seriously, at just about any school you ever go to, you will see bullying being used to enforce behaviours, and often this bullying will be socially enforced by teachers who tell bullied kids they're not trying hard enough to fit in, no matter how friendly or nice said bullied child is, or without considering that any anti-social behaviour the child displays is a direct consequence of the bullying.
I think a lot of people are oblivious to how deeply ingrained bullying culture is in society. It's pretty much everywhere, to the point where most people aren't even conscious of the fact that they are bullying.
Especially in your adolescence and early childhood, deviating from norms, especially gender norms, almost always incurs bullying, unless the deviation is lucky enough to become a trend, like glasses were at my primary school - nobody was bullied for that, but everyone copied the trend in order to have the status of wearing glasses. I'm sure a lot of people adopt the sort of hypermasculine, hyperfeminine behaviours you see in a lot of adolescents either to avoid being bullied or to attract the power of being a bully against people who don't conform to that norm.
Seriously, at just about any school you ever go to, you will see bullying being used to enforce behaviours, and often this bullying will be socially enforced by teachers who tell bullied kids they're not trying hard enough to fit in, no matter how friendly or nice said bullied child is, or without considering that any anti-social behaviour the child displays is a direct consequence of the bullying.
I think a lot of people are oblivious to how deeply ingrained bullying culture is in society. It's pretty much everywhere, to the point where most people aren't even conscious of the fact that they are bullying.