The wonderful catalogue: The role of the IKEA catalogue in reinforcing and globalising the Swedish national identity

This thesis investigates the IKEA catalogue’s role in reinforcing and globalising the Swedish national identity. For over 70 years, the IKEA catalogue was a significant contributor to the global image of Sweden as it represented Swedish values and culture. A qualitative research approach was taken to gather evidence through literary review, observation, and visual analysis. IKEA reinforced the Swedish national identity by aligning itself with Scandinavian modernist and social democratic ideologies, representing these ideologies within the catalogue. IKEA and the Swedish Social Democrats worked in tandem to create an egalitarian society and achieve the goal of ‘folkhemmet’, which sought to ensure no citizen was more undervalued than another. The government provided the ideologies for a better standard of living, and IKEA supplied the masses with objects to enact this. IKEA never intended to symbolise Sweden, but by utilising ‘Swedishness’ within the catalogue and spreading it worldwide, the IKEA catalogue effectively globalised the Swedish national identity. IKEA discontinued the catalogue in 2021 and has not been negatively impacted, with sales continuing to increase. However, Sweden has since lost a successful outlet for promoting its country and identity. This investigation is supported by images gathered from IKEA’s catalogues and posts from IKEA’s Instagram profile.