Abstract
According to the research on delegitimization, negative stereotypes, prejudices, and verbal discrimination are based on contiguities of person categories and devaluations mainly in the area of delinquency. The extent to which contiguities can be economically and systematically ascertained is demonstrated by computer-assisted co-occurrence analysis, where co-occurrence is understood as the simultaneous appearance of verbal occurrences in a counting unit such as a sentence or paragraph. This study documents how the terms foreigners and crime appeared in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) from 1993 to 1995 using a new procedure with CD-ROM. Subject matter, as well as the hypothesis that the connection between the two terms became weaker after an antiracism plebiscite, are investigated. It was possible to broadly confirm these hypotheses on the basis of the material that was compared. The studypoints out thepossibility ofperceiving latent devaluations early. The material at hand, however, onlyprovides clues to how overt devaluations have been avoided.
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