Abstract
Social cohesion is critical to the prosperity of individuals, communities and societies, but is increasingly weakened by fragmentation and polarization. To strengthen social cohesion and to extend it beyond deeply ingrained group boundaries, we develop and rigorously evaluate an intensive educational program designed to increase consciousness of universal human identity and foster participants’ capacity to contribute to unity in diversity. Results from a large-scale randomized controlled trial with 8,648 youth in India show that program participation reduces discriminatory attitudes and behaviors independent of any given social divide, enhances prosocial behaviors across group boundaries, and bolsters civic attitudes and engagement.