Abstract
The current study examines the extent to which mega sport events play a role in connecting people from different countries, using the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as its case study. The analysis examines social connection (on Twitter) between Chinese and Russians and whether these connections are more likely to occur among the followers of the @Beijing2022 Twitter account, if compared with Twitter users in these countries who do not follow this account. The choice of the Russians and the Chinese also stems from their countries’ united front against those Western countries whose diplomats boycotted the games. The analysis reveals that, in cases where two people follow @Beijing2022, the likelihood of there being a connection between them increases by 8%, as compared with those people who do not follow this account, while controlling for other relevant variables. The findings indicate that mega sport events which take place under a boycott have the ability to be enhancers of international social connections.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1230-1245 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | American Behavioral Scientist |
Volume | 67 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Sep 2023 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Beijing 2022
- Sino-Russian relations
- boycott
- mega events
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Cultural Studies
- Education
- Sociology and Political Science
- General Social Sciences