Changing family values across the generations in twentieth-century Lithuania

Lithuanian society experienced several tumultuous upheavals during the twentieth century. Drawing on the findings from two series of biographical interviews, this article analyses changes in family values and intergenerational relations across three different generations of Lithuanians. The authors examine how traditional family values were transmitted between generations in twentieth-century Lithuanian society during the periods of independence before 1945, incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991, and the newly independent Lithuania after 1991. Particular attention is paid to the Soviet generations, their accommodation within the Soviet system and their adaptation to social and political changes in Lithuania after 1991. Analysis of these life histories illuminates the impact of the Soviet regime and the Sovietisation process on family values, family practices and intergenerational relations. The authors explore the role of families in resisting, accommodating and adapting to these systemic transformations, and they assess the indelible imprint of the processes involved on Lithuanian family life, which is still evident more than a quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991. The study explores how the different periods of the Soviet regime shaped Lithuanian generations in the twentieth century and the legacy of these experiences during the Soviet era for Lithuanian society in the twenty-first century.