Impact of Live Sports Watching on Social Capital and Its Group Differences

Sport provides media and opportunities for the generation and development of social capital. Based on the data of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS 2017), the impact of live sports watching on social capital at different levels is specifically analyzed. The results show that watching sports games on-site has a significant positive effect on individual social capital and social participation, and this effect does not vary with gender, age, household registration, education, and economic conditions. On the other hand, live sports watching has no significant effect on interpersonal trust, but it has different effects on people of different ages and economic conditions. It is suggested to promote various forms of social capital construction paths with mass sports as the carrier to give full play to the social value of sports and continue to deepen the research on sport and social capital to provide more scientific basis for decision-making by relevant departments.