Common-ground curriculum boosts tolerance and civic engagement in pilot study
Social cohesion is the glue that holds society together. Now, those bonds are breaking, and polarization has been growing for years. Educational programs aimed at strengthening social cohesion by promoting greater tolerance often focus on social differences, such as ethnicity, religion or nationality. Yet are such programs effective? A German–American team of researchers involving the University of Konstanz recommends the opposite approach: Instead of focusing on differences, such programs should center on universal human values.
The researchers from Konstanz, San Diego and Stanford developed an educational program that was tested in a large-scale pilot study of 644 school classes and more than 8,600 participants in India. The results show that the program significantly reduces discriminatory attitudes and promotes prosocial behavior, civic values and social engagement.
"The effect approaches just about half of the influence that one's own family has on opinions and values," said Christina Felfe, a professor of applied microeconomics and a member of the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" at the University of Konstanz. The educational program and the results of the study are described in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Finding common ground rather than differences
"We should not forget how much we have in common," Felfe emphasizes. Social division takes place along the lines of small differences, although people share many values, regardless of their backgrounds. Yet even educational programs intended to fight division too often focus on the differences that need to be overcome.
The problem with this method is that participants often cannot apply lessons about individual differences to other areas of their lives. For example, if you learn that having different nationalities does not make us better or worse people, you often do not conclude that the same is true for different religions, ethnic groups, genders and political opinions. Past studies indicate that the positive effect of such programs often lasts only a short time, and the lessons learned are often not applied outside the classroom.
The German–American research team, including Felfe, developed an educational program that does not center on differences between people. Instead, it focuses on what connects all of us: universal human values and shared characteristics. The key didactic concept is based on harmonizing this common ground with human diversity. "Our approach shows that diversity is not the opposite of unity, but that diversity is exactly the difference between unity and uniformity," Felfe explains.
The program has three foundational elements: First, it strengthens participants' awareness of shared universal human characteristics—from a biological as well as a moral perspective. Second, it teaches students to create positive environments based on unity and diversity. Third, it raises awareness of the fact that individuals and communities act within a broader social context.
First implementation in Delhi, India
Between 2023 and 2024, the program was initially implemented in a large-scale pilot study with young adults in India. It included 23 lessons, each 100 minutes long, taught six days a week over three weeks. "India is a country where society has long been characterized by differences in caste, gender and religion. This is why it was an ideal location to test whether our educational program could overcome deep-seated discriminatory attitudes and strengthen social cohesion," Felfe says.
The study was conducted in cooperation with the Freedom Employability Academy (FEA). This nonprofit educational organization in India provides free programs for disadvantaged youth to strengthen their professional skills. A total of 8,648 participants from 644 school classes (ages 18–30) were divided into two groups: One half was taught the new educational program, while the other half received regular FEA training.
The study finds that participants in the new educational program demonstrated more tolerant attitudes toward people from other social groups. Their thoughts and actions showed fewer discriminatory attitudes, not just in relation to individual cultural characteristics like ethnicity or religion, but across the full spectrum of diversity. Participants' social behaviors were strengthened, even beyond the boundaries of social class, and their civic engagement increased.
"All in all, the program's participants demonstrated a more positive view of society and were more open to contact with people from other groups," Felfe concludes.
The educational program has since become part of the FEA's standard repertoire and is now offered in all its programs. Each year, an estimated 75,000 young people benefit from it. As a next step, the research team would like to expand the program beyond India. "This would help us to study the program's effectiveness in different cultural and social contexts and test its potential for application worldwide," Felfe adds.
Publication details
May Farid et al, Building capacity for unity in diversity, Nature Human Behaviour (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-026-02509-1
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