Project

Project data

Inclusivity Norms to Counter Polarization in European Societies (INCLUSIVITY)

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Initiative: Challenges for Europe
Allocation: Jul 1, 2021
Period of funding: 4 Years

Project information

The project team focuses their research on inclusivity norms, which are social group norms that promote equality-based respect, dialogue and unity, to prevent the harmful consequences of polarization for the social tissue of European communities. The goal of the project is to advance research on current European challenges in three ways. First, to provide an evidence-based approach to countering polarization in Europe. Second, they use experimental and network approaches to inclusivity norms, which will to uncover the relational nature of norm transmission, as well as the conditions under which inclusivity norms amplify tolerance, contact and cooperation. Third, the project will result in open-access empirical data on similarities and differences in inclusivity norms between 16 European countries and groups within European countries, including EU separatist movements (e.g., Catalonia). The team will use an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach, which combines a cross-European survey, laboratory experiments, social network analysis, and an evaluation of school-based interventions to study how inclusivity norms can change individuals' attitudes and behavior toward opposing groups. With the project the team intends to provide knowledge on how to optimize transmission and adoption of inclusivity norms in contemporary Europe. The project team plans to transfer valuable knowledge to both stakeholders and the general public by creating an international hub of research on inclusivity norms, facilitated by implementing workshops, conferences, a multilingual website specifically designed for practitioners and non-experts, and ongoing collaborations with these and other stakeholders.

Project participants

  • Prof. Dr. Maarten Van Zalk

    Universität Osnabrück
    Fachbereich Humanwissenschaften
    Institut für Psychologie
    Osnabrück

  • Prof. Dr. Marcin Bukowski

    Jagiellonian University in Krakow
    Department of Philisophy
    Institute of Psychology
    Krakow
    Poland

  • Prof. Dr. Oliver Christ

    Fernuniversität in Hagen
    Psychology
    Hagen

  • Prof. Dr. Miranda Lubbers

    Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
    Faculty of Arts (Facultat de Lletres i Filosofia)
    Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
    Bellaterra - Barcelona
    Spain

  • Prof. Dr. Eva Jaspers

    Utrecht University
    Social and Behavioural Sciences
    Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory
    and Methodology Research School (ICS)
    Utrecht
    Netherlands

Open Access Publications