Volume 6, No. 2, Art. 11 – May 2005

Review Note

Christof Beyer (2004). Der Erfurter Amoklauf in der Presse. Unerklärlichkeit und die Macht der Erklärung: Eine Diskursanalyse anhand zweier ausgewählter Beispiele [The Erfurt Amok Run in the Print Press. Inexplicability and the Power of Explication: A Discourse Analysis of two Selected Examples]

Katharina Gajdukowa (Germany)

Abstract: BEYER provides a discourse analytical study concerning the press coverage of the amok run^** in Erfurt committed by Robert Steinhäuser. He applies the analytical categories used by two representatives of discourse analysis, Michel FOUCAULT and Jürgen LINK, and comes to the conclusion that the discourse about the subject is a matter of normality and aberration. This difference serves as a basic principle in order to explain the consequences of the amok run, thereby, the focus is on the perpetrator. He symbolizes the prototype of aberration, without questioning the fundamental organization of power and knowledge.

Key words: discourse analysis, Foucault, Link, theory of disintegration

^** Note: In the German-speaking world, the expression Amoklaufen (to run amok) is used exclusively in the context of violent incidents like former-student Steinhäuser's gun rampage described here.

This contribution is only available as a full text in the German language. German text

Last update: 05/30/2005

Volume 6, No. 2 Table of Contents

[qualitative-research.net] [Home] [Inside FQS] [Features] [Services] [Submission]
[FAQ] [Advertising] [Search FQS] [Newsletter] [Editorial Team]

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft