New research project: „Overcoming Societal Tensions in Europe: Can Age-Diverse Friendships be the Solution?“ [21.12.23]
The research project is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Project partners: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Fasbender (University of Hohenheim), Dr. Lisbeth Drury (Birkbeck, University of London, GB), Dr. Anita Keller (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, NL), Dr. Bernadeta Gostautaite (ISM University of Management and Economics, Vilnius, LT) and Dr. Michela Vignoli (Università degli Studi di Trento, IT).
The aim of the project is to uncover the full potential of age-diverse friendships to strengthen cooperation and tolerance across different generations in Europe. Many of Europe's current challenges, such as migration or pension and social security, are linked to tensions between different social groups, including age groups. Friendship is the most powerful form of contact. When different social groups develop friendships, it can change their behaviour. This project focusses on age-diverse friendships in the workplace as it is a hub for people from different generations to meet and the positive effect of age-diverse friendships formed in one context such as the workplace can spill-over to other contexts.
This project combines qualitative methods, experimental designs, and intervention methods. By doing so, the consortium will explore the potential for age-diverse friendships to function as social glue in society across five work packages: (1) understanding the meaning of age-diverse friendship in different contexts, (2) study why and when age-diverse friendships lead to support towards other age groups, (3) explore the potential of age-diverse friendships to reduce wider societal tensions, (4) ask whether and under which conditions age-diverse friendships facilitate social cohesion and (5) how organisations can support the formation and maintenance of age-diverse friendships.
