Thomas Franssen

Thomas Franssen (1984) studied Media & Culture, and Sociology at the University of Amsterdam. His main interest lies in cultural sociology, especially the production of culture, globalization, americanization, taste and cultural hierarchies. He also enjoys thinking about sociological and cultural theory, with a special interest in marxism and postmodernism. His master thesis entitled 'Power behind the cover. On the selection of English books that are published in The Netherlands', discusses the practices of editors in the Dutch and transnational literary field. During the last year of his BA and in his MA he taught classes at the sociology department of the UvA in sociological theory, introduction to sociology, qualitative data analysis and cultural sociology.

Thomas started his PhD research in september 2009. This project investigates the 'americanization' of European literary fields in the 20th century and the changes in discourses on, and the evaluation of, American literature in Europe and the United States.