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Martin Svendsen

About me

Language, Philosophy, Art. Business Studies.
Martin Svendsen is  Assistant Professor and lecturer in Advertising & PR. He teaches communication theory and marketing in general, as well as  organisation theory and management. Recently his research interest has focused on the consumption habits of criminal offenders. His interest lies within the field of self-perception and its resulting consumption habits, where ideology plays an important role. Hence he has also done work on the ideological expression of brands, and how these expressions work on both an explicit and an implicit strategical level. Martin Svendsen is currently collaborating in a project concerning the ideological underpinnings of a very popular 20 century fantasy story.  

Martin Svendsen has earned a B.A. in Art History, a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Swedish language, and a Ph.D. in Business Studies, all from Stockholm University.

 

   

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Consumption in Crime

    2017. Håkan Preiholt, Jens Martin Svendsen. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 10 (1), 1-15

    Article

    The overarching aim of this article is to explore criminal recidivism. Criminal recidivism is one of the largest problems for correctional institutions and thus ambition in Western countries. In particular, we aim to provide a partial explanation as to why some correctional ambitions worldwide frequently have such a low success rate in dealing with recidivism in general. The objects of analysis in this study are criminals as a distinct group of citizens, outsiders if you will, a them in an us-and-them dichotomy. The results of the study then become an explanation that can be portrayed in terms of a trajectory of meaning in a process over time. Here we consider the consumption of crime as being similar to the consumption of fashion recognized in a personal role and identity. Fashion is chosen as an example of consumption that pertains to desire and hence to longing for a better life.

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  • Towards a more Profound Understanding of the Problem of Criminality and Recidivism in Terms of Consumption and Fashion

    2016. Håkan Preiholt, Martin Svendsen. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 9 (1), 1-12

    Article

    The overarching aim of this article is to explore the recidivism sequence as one of the largest problems for correctional ambitions in Western countries. Criminals are identified by a qualitative method called ‘thick description’, which is a deep and detailed description of those criminals. This is also a method in the identification of unaffected fashion, which is generally based on change, group identification and art. The results show that the effects of perceived threats to identity and self-esteem are associated with group membership and fashion statements. The recidivism frequency and its reality are due to an authenticity and the true self, which is not subject to ambivalence in the case of criminals and their role in the society as such. The conclusion is that we cannot, as paradoxical as it may seem, cure the recidivism problem in the world of criminals. This is because an authenticity based on the true self (a self-concept), anchored in the definition of fashion and the wider society as such, cannot easily be changed.

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  • Lektorn: Zlatans roll - en forntidsföreställning

    2015. Jens Martin Svendsen. Resumé (5 jan)

    Article

    Bilden som framställs av mannen och kvinnan i Volvos Zlatan-reklamfilm hör forntiden till, tycker Jens Martin Svendsen, universitetslektor som bland annat undervisar i genusfrågor gällande reklam.

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  • Ideology and the Expression of Brands

    2015. Jens Martin Svendsen.

    Conference

    As the branding process is intertwined with already existing cultural codes, fundamental cultural processes in a society might affect the attraction of a specific brand. This means that trends of ethical or political fashions influence the popularity of brands and how they are realized. This case focuses on how the brand Fjällräven has been acknowledged as having varying political, ethical and fashionable positioning over decades. The case is compared to other related brands, e.g. Haglöfs/Patagonia.

    A strain of thought can be coined progressivist. The idea within this thought model is that improvement is possible through knowledge, a kind of optimism when it comes to society and human effort to improve its living conditions, and being in the world. This progressivist stance is linked to brands that thus resonates the progressivist believes and hopes so that the brand of Fjällräven can be said to be an example of progression in this progressivist tradition.

    With reference to Umberto Eco, Martin Kornberger points out that an author seldom, if ever, has any control over the interpretations of their work. The meaning creating process becomes an ever ongoing socially contingent process rather than a stable, once and for all, established fact. Transferred to the field of brands, the idea is that brands resonate in society, and they resonate ideas. Marcel Danesi voices a similar idea when he writes that advertising that is in some sense or another successful always resonates with something outside of the brand meaning itself. An intertextual connection to societal factors. If this is true, then brands resonate not just in an individual sense with individual co-creators, but also in a collective sense with ideas rather than individuals, individuals being the carriers, vehicles if you will, of meaning that co-create meaning but the long term intertextual factors needs to be taken into account. If this is so, then Fjällräven would be a case in point and, further, intertextuality does not need to be communicated explicitly, it is still present, like progressivism is present and thus would influence the meaning construct of a brand, and consequently its sense of significance, value, for want of a better word.

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  • Gör som jag säger! igen och igen

    2010. Jens Martin Svendsen (et al.).

    Thesis (Doc)

    Marknadsföring bildar ett system av kompetenser baserade på kunskap om förfarande. Beroende på hur förfarandet är beskrivet så faller kunskapen ut. Genom att undersöka beskrivningarnas systematik, både vad gäller meningsinnehåll och sammansättning, undersöker texten beskrivningarnas system för legitimering av handlingsalternativ och handlingsrekommendationer: hur denna systematik bildar sambandet mellan är:et och bör:et behandlas. Avslutningsvis ställs en beskrivning av repetitivt förfarande mot en annan beskrivning av samma förfarande – leken. Genom denna kontrasterande beskrivning blir Forskarens (Rekommenderarens) och Hanterarens roller tydliga: beskrivningarna bestämmer de möjliga handlingsalternativen och legitimerar dem, beskrivningarna bestämmer också implicit vilken roll som Forskaren och Hanteraren liksom Kunden (Konsumenten) och den Anställde får. Beskrivningarna bildar – förutom att vara en beskrivning av vad som finns i världen i termer av ting, händelser, egenskaper och rättigheter – också en slags tillskrivande av roller, möjligheter och legitimitet.

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