Work

Batting for the Nation(s): Baseball and the Conditional Rise of Competing Identities in Taiwan

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Since 1992, the proportion of citizens in Taiwan who identify exclusively as Taiwanese, rather than holding dual identities, has steadily risen. Although short‐term fluctuations in national identification have attracted scholarly attention, there has been little systematic investigation into the magnitude of these shifts or the factors that may drive them. This study draws on daily national survey data to examine how a high‐profile international baseball tournament contributed to changes in Taiwanese national identification. Our research contributes to the literature on ecstatic nationalism, which emphasises emotionally charged and collective expressions of national identity in response to high‐profile national events. The findings reaffirm baseball's longstanding cultural role in shaping nationalist sentiment in Taiwan and demonstrate that its effects vary by party affiliation. In particular, the results underscore the contested and dynamic nature of national identity and highlight the need for further research into the mechanisms driving these fluctuations.

Source: Nations and Nationalism

DOI: 10.1111/nana.70059

Authors: Jou Fei Huang, Daniel Yu‐Kuei Sun, Thung‐Hong Lin

Institutions: National Chung Hsing University, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica

Language: English

Topic: Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Academia Sinica, National Science and Technology Council