Reconstituting Social Order through Mentally-Disturbed-Persons-Problems: Making Sense of Shocking Physical Violence

On 2023, September 28, normalcy in the Netherlands and the city of Rotterdam was ruptured through an incident of shocking physical violence. Different actors featured in media coverage highlighted and left out various aspects of the events. In this thesis, the sensemaking process after a shocking incident of physical violence is researched. First, existing literature on constructivism, media narratives, postmodern disability studies, and stigma theory is outlined. Thereafter, a narrative analysis is performed on the media narratives published after the events. The results indicate that actors featured in media coverage of the events put multiple political issues at stake, including mentally-disturbed-persons-problems through a complex narrated sensemaking process. Besides, mentally-disturbed-persons-problems is brought into the discussion to socially reconstitute a sense of a normal social order. This thesis contributes to the academic field of sociology by adding stigma theory to the analysis of a sensemaking process after a shocking incident of physical violence.