Survey on Sportswashing

Intrinsic to the success of sportswashing, is that the fans along with the rest of society accept or become blind to a sportswasher’s influence. I introduced this concept in WP1 where I looked at how the fans of Manchester City legitimized the sportswashing of their team. However, I believe understanding how society allows sportswashing to occur requires looking at more than just the loyal fans of a specific team, but also evaluating random people who are just learning about the concept.

This survey serves to find out exactly what kind of opinions regular members of society have on sportswashing and see why sportswashing is often accepted. The results from the survey seen below were collected from random students at USC and display trends that indicate society has been aware of sportswashing for far longer than I previously expected. The link to the survey will be provided at the end of the report for reference.

Data Analysis:

The first question of the survey asks about the interviewee’s overall familiarity with sportswashing. While some students may have heard of the word before, I did not expect many to be largely familiar and well-versed in the topic. The results confirmed my expectations as around 93% of the respondents stated that they had either only heard about sportswashing or had no clue what it was. These results indicate that sportswashing as a concept has not gained widespread relevance and popularity and that it is used more largely in the academic and media fields.

Also, in terms of creating a consistent, standardized, and reliable survey this question was also important because it confirmed to me the majority of respondents would not be influenced by a respondent’s previous knowledge or study of the topic.

The next question dives into the respondents’ initial opinions on sportswashing, specifically how they feel it impacts the integrity of sport. Around 75% of the respondents felt that the integrity of a given event, league, or team could be compromised in some way. However, what was more striking about this number was that 67% of those who said yes, only felt it impacted credibility to a small extent. In addition to this, the remaining 25% percent of respondents said they feel there is no impact on the credibility or legitimacy of a sport.

These responses reveal that while sportswashing raises doubts about a sport’s integrity, it falls short of completely undermining its legitimacy. This was evident in the case of Manchester City fans discussed earlier. Despite the awareness of sportswashing, fans remained loyal and passionate about their team, demonstrating that the practice did not lead to a loss of faith in the sport. The survey findings suggest that this trend extends beyond dedicated fans, as even casual respondents felt the credibility of sports was only marginally affected, with few indicating they would stop supporting their favorite teams or sports entirely.

In the next two questions, the survey inquires about what sportswashing events are most prevalent in the minds of the respondents, who do not know much about sportswashing. About 40% of the respondents claimed that they could think of a specific instance of sportwashing and when asked to write what they were the majority of answers surrounded the Olympics, specifically “Russia in the Olympics” and “the 1936 Olympics in Berlin”.

First, despite nearly 100% of respondents claiming unfamiliarity with sportswashing initially, 40% could recall specific instances after answering the first couple of questions, indicating that society is more aware of sportswashing than they may realize. It makes sense that people can think of examples after learning the definition of sportswashing because as a concept it is rather intuitive. I think the fact that it is only recently becoming formalized as a socio-political concept indicates that awareness of the topic will only increase.

In terms of the responses about the Olympics, it is clear that this is the marquee event of sportswashing in the public’s eyes, and these results are not surprising. They align with historical contexts, such as the USSR’s use of the Olympics to deflect from human rights violations. Interestingly, over half of the respondents mentioned the Olympics in their answers because it shows that America has consistently demonized foreign sportswashers in the past, as seen in American propaganda. These answers highlight a recurring theme of framing opposing foreign powers as the ‘villain,’; a theme that we see today with the demonization of the sportswashing occurring in the Middle East.

Following up on the previous question, here I wanted to find out where the respondents feel sportswashing is most likely to occur based on the limited information in the survey. As expected, most people saw BRICS(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Saudi Arabia)and Middle Eastern countries as most likely to sportswash, but I was surprised by how many people also chose North American countries(America). This chart shows that people recognize sportswashing as more widespread rather than exclusive to eastern or typically non-democratic countries. I thought everyone would be inclined to just put BRICS but instead, the results are very diverse and every answer was chosen by at least a third of the people.

The next question asks the respondents to connect what they’ve learned about sportswashing to the potential impacts it could have on global politics, specifically if they think sportswashing can be a threat to “democratic ideals.” The results of this question were unexpected as 45% of respondents answered “No” that they do not think sportswash is a threat to democracy.

I anticipated that many would perceive sportswashing as a threat to democratic ideals, yet I intentionally left the question open-ended without explanation to encourage unbiased responses. However, it may not have been clear what the question truly entailed. Sportswashing can undermine “democratic ideals” if successful, as it elevates the geopolitical status of the involved country, often a non-democratic regime, granting them greater international influence. This poses a threat to America and fosters societal indifference towards human rights abuses, challenging the traditional democratic stance of standing up for the oppressed. Nonetheless, by framing the question this way, I aimed to allow respondents to decide based on their intuition whether sportswashing indeed poses a significant societal threat.

Now, the survey follows up on the previous question about “democratic ideals” and asks the respondent to reconsider their answer, this time with the knowledge that America is actually one of the most infamous sportswashers. The answers reveal some interesting trends. Almost everybody(86%) answered “No”, they would not change their answer. For those who thought previously sportwashing was NOT a threat to democratic values, American participation only confirmed their opinion. For those who thought it was a threat, America’s participation did not change their opinion. The only three people to change their answer had said “yes” to the previous question, sportswashing is a threat to “democratic ideals”. This means the inclusion of America as a participant in sportswashing made them think that sportswashing actually is not a threat to democracy. When asked to explain their answer, one respondent said “If America is the example of democratic ideals and they have been able to maintain those while doing sportswashing then I don’t see why Russia or China can’t either”.

While working through the data and responses, I initially found it difficult to find a piece of information that surprised me or added something especially unique to my discussion of sportswashing that was started in WP1. However, as I looked at the data as a whole I could generally see a pervasive sense of apathy towards sportswashing and its potential ramifications. Despite the introduction of the concept and mention of specific instances of sportswashing, the majority of respondents seemed largely indifferent to its impact. This indifference was most notably reflected in the finding that most individuals perceived sportswashing as only marginally affecting the credibility and integrity of sports events, leagues, or teams. For me, this raised broader questions about the politicization of sports and the acceptance of sportswashing as a norm within the sporting landscape. Why are people apathetic? Is it a lack of awareness? Are politics just a normal part of sports now? Are we desensitized to human rights issues? Or are we used to it because America has been doing it for so long? Ultimately, this data underscores the need for continued dialogue and critical examination of the ethical and moral dimensions of sportswashing and its impact on our perceptions of sports

Survey Link: https://forms.gle/vJ8kxsSaeaD7nAWE6