ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the notion of the civilization process including its historical purpose as social lubricant and a tool of differentiation. It discusses the role played by social reform programmes in the hosting of mega-events, and the main actors behind their implementation and their motives. The chapter examines the empirical examples of social image-construction programmes in both Beijing and Rio de Janeiro. Mega-events play an important role in the implementation of social image-construction programmes that justify state interventions to alter both the body and the mind of the city's inhabitants and turn them into docile and compliant citizens. The chapter demonstrates that event-related social image-construction programmes open the door for the establishment of an increasingly repressive authoritarian state. It explores how the exceptional nature of mega-events helps justify the suspension of many civic rights, and the imposition of limits on personal liberties, including freedom of movement and freedom of speech.
