Projekt

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.

• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Fasbender

  Universität Hohenheim
  Fakultät für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften
  Institut für Bildung, Arbeit und Gesellschaft
  FG Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologie
  Stuttgart
  

• Dr. Lisbeth Drury

  Birkbeck, University of London
  Birkbeck Business School, People, Work &
  Organisational Psychology
  London
  Grossbritannien
  

• Dr. Anita Keller

  Rijksuniversiteit Groningen/
  Niederlande
  Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences
  Organizational Psychology
  Groningen
  Niederlande
  

• Dr. Bernadeta Gostautaite

  ISM University of Management and
  Economics
  Vilnius
  Litauen
  

• Dr. Michela Vignoli

  Università degli Studi di Trento
  Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science
  Rovereto (TN)
  Italien