T his article presents empiric research on respondents’ self-identification of ethnicityin such culturally homogenous country as Lithuania and comparisons among three occupational sectors: education, healthcare and business. T he results reveal the difficulty when attempting to self-identity ethnicity resulting in high nonresponse rate. Furthermore, results indicate effects of occupational background of the respondent and influence of EU membership on the perceived ethnicity. T he contextualisation of results within social and historical context of the country is outlined, as well as methodological implications.

This article examines the complex interactions of policy and media discourses and public attitudes as contextual factors which contribute to the creation of a social-cultural environment for the integration of refugees. It applies comparative integration context, system justification and sanctioned theories and identifies the discursive practices and implications for maintaining the existing socio-political system of the host country. Critical discourse analysis of policy, media, semi-structured and focus groups interviews of experts, refugees, and policy actors reveal the normative assumptions about integration policies which provide the prospects for interpretation about the creation of both distances and opportunities for interaction between the host society and refugees.