The topic of prosocial behavior (e.g. fairness, solidarity, and altruism) has recently shifted back into the center of attention in a variety of disciplines, ranging from economics across sociology and psychology towards biology. It is now a well-accepted fact in all human sciences that human behavior is not always governed by egotism and selfish motives. Unfortunately, this does not explain why humans also act blatantly selfish and are blind to the suffering of others.

This book is a response to the quandary. It brings together leading researchers in sociology and psychology to explain human egotism and altruism using not only their area of study but also bringing in research from economics and biology. Since this work brings together the research of many different disciplines, a complete account of solidarity and prosocial behavior is presented.

Zusammenfassung
This book is the product of an intensive cooperation between psych- ogists and sociologists who study solidarity and prosocial behavior, and its fruits are briefly summarized in Chapter 1. The topics of so- darity and prosocial behavior are at the core of both disciplines and thus one might expect that an intensive cooperation like the one that produced this book is not uncommon. Surprisingly however, it is extremely rare that sociologists and psychologists get together to c- bine their knowledge in these fields. Instead, researchers from both disciplines tend to ignore each other's work quite generally, and the work on prosocial and antisocial behavior is no exception. The conviction that sociology and psychology can benefit from each other's work led usa group of sociologists and psychologists at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands)in 1999 to launch a joint research project on solidarity and prosociality. The aim was to find a common ground on which insights from each discipline could contribute to a broader understanding of solidarity and prosocial behavior. This interdisciplinary research project was called Prosocial Dispositions and Solidary Behavior and it was financed by the University of Groningen as a so-called breedtestrategie program (i.e., a program for broadening disciplinary approaches).

Inhalt
Solidarity and Prosocial Behavior: A Framing Approach.- Micromechanisms.- Prosocial Behavior, Solidarity, and Framing Processes.- Learning and Framing in Social Exchange.- Perceptions of Prosociality and Solidarity in Self and Others.- Personality and Socialization.- Personality and Solidary Behavior.- The Development of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence.- Social Context: Networks and Social Exchange.- The Ultimate Betrayal? Infidelity and Solidarity in Close Relationships.- Understanding the Joint Effects of Interdependence and Diversity on Solidarity in Work Teams.- Institutional Content.- Employees' Organizational Solidarity within Modern Organizations: A Framing Perspective on the Effects of Social Embeddedness.- Sustaining the Motivation to Volunteer in Organizations.- Cultural Context.- Ethnic Identity and Solidarity with Functional Groups.- Solidarity in the Absence of External Sanctions: A Cross-Cultural Study of Educational Goals and Fair-Share Behavior.- Wealth, Climate, and Framing: Cross-National Differences in Solidarity.- Outlook.- How to Explain Prosocial and Solidary Behavior: A Comparison of Framing Theory with Related Meta-Theoretical Paradigms.