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 aims to analyse nationalism on the basis of theoretical insights developed by Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson and Anthony D. Smith. Their ideas are important since these three scholars help to discern what might be done to diminish the possibility of conf-licts because of ethnic, national and cultural differences. An extensive part of the article is also devoted to the practical analysis of manifestations of nationalism within the Belgian society related to historically conditioned misunderstandings between the Flemish and the Walloons.