Life course transitions and value orientations among 18–50 age-cohort Lithuanians
| Author | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Date | Start Page | End Page |
|---|---|---|
2021 | 1 | 1 |
Traditionally, moving out of the parental household, completing an education, beginning to work and being able to support oneself financially, finding a partner or marrying used to demarcate the transition to adulthood (Coles 1995; Clark, Mulder, 2000). The changing concept and role of the marriage and family, flexicurity in the labour market and other structural factors of the contemporary industrial society have opened a new social reality where individuals are forced to make decisions and rise to the challenges by simultaneously actively constructing an individual unique reality of their lives. The transition to the adulthood is no longer considered a linear sequence of discrete events. Life course scholars state that this transition is not simply the biographical timing of individual choices and structural conditions, but it strongly affected by cultural factors – gendered norms and value orientations (Inglehart, Oyserman, 2004).
The aim of this presentation is to examine the perceptions of adulthood and reveal the differences of the life course trajectories and value orientations among representatives of different generations in Lithuania.
The presentation is based on the data of the European Social Survey (ESS, round 9, 2019) and national study Experiences of (In)Security across Generations in Lithuania: Motives and Opportunities to Choose Life Trajectories, which was implemented in 2020. Building on a mixed method approach of a representative survey (n=3000) and biographical interviews (n=25) of the most active 18–50 age-cohort, this presentation examines the perceptions of adulthood and reveals the differences of the life course trajectories among representatives of different generations in Lithuania. Normative differences between generations are significantly influenced by institutional factors, as well as by cultural factors (age norms, gendered norms, based on different value orientations).