Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies

Abstract These days, celebrities play an extensive role in people’s lives. They have entered cultural, social, economic—and also political—spheres and influence their audiences. One area that, over recent decades, has been affected by and entangled with celebrities’ involvement is elections in various countries. By endorsing a like-minded candidate, celebrities call on their audiences to support that person and thus advocate for them.



This study, using a comparative approach and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis method, examines how celebrities expressed support during Iran’s 2017 election and the United States’ 2016 election at the candidates’ campaign rallies. To that end, three celebrities from each country were selected for analysis: Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Demi Lovato from the U.S., and Sahar Dolatshahi, Baran Kosari, and Leili Rashidi from Iran. The findings indicate that in both countries, celebrity discourse is shaped by the political, cultural, and social context. Iranian celebrities tended to present themselves as aligned with the people and sharing their vote, criticizing existing structures, the previous government, and obstacles to civil liberties, with a stronger emphasis on reform. American celebrities, by contrast, focused more on the values of freedom and on welfare issues.

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between religious beliefs, particularly belief in life after death, and political inclinations among Americans. Utilizing data from the 2022 General Social Survey (GSS), we explored the sociopolitical impact of religiosity through statistical analyses, including Pearson’s chi-squared tests and independent samples t-tests. Findings indicate that religiosity significantly correlates with belief in life after death, with more religious individuals demonstrating a stronger inclination toward belief in an afterlife. Additionally, race and gender were found to be influential, as black Americans and American women were more likely to believe in life after death. However, socioeconomic factors such as income and education showed no significant association with afterlife beliefs. Contrary to expectations, age also lacked a meaningful relationship with belief in life after death. Lastly, we found that belief in the afterlife is significantly associated with one’s inclination towards republicans in the elections. These results emphasize the enduring influence of religious identity and spiritual beliefs on social and political attitudes.

Abstract When the war broke out in Ukraine, this eastern European country started a successful resistance that pinned down the Russian army in many regions and created a stalemate that has sparked a war of attrition not only in Ukraine, but also on social media territories in other political spheres. This study investigates the way in which Ukraine war is represented -or to be more precise, fought- in the Iranian X. Data mining methods were employed to search, find and extract posts including “Ukraine war” -or “جنگ اوکراین” in Persian. Our main question was, how did Iranian X users position themselves with regard to war in Ukraine? Using Python, a popular social media research tools, 2027 relevant posts were extracted to show the way in which Iranian users position themselves with regard to Ukraine war. Results revealed that the two Iranian main political factions  -namely Reformists and Fundamentalists- see this war not as a war of other countries, but that of their own. The pro-Western Reformists favor the Ukrainian side of the war and the pro-Eastern Fundamentalists favor the Russian side of the war. They fight on social media as though the Ukrainian war is their own war.