Filosofija. Sociologija

Title

Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Eurocentrism in Sociology: Critique and Alternatives

Diana Janušauskienė, Giedrė Plepytė-Davidavičienė — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the problem of Eurocentrism in sociology and seeks to critically evaluate the features of the established sociological canon. The analysis is based on the rapidly developing perspective of decolonising sociology, as well as the theoretical approaches of academic dependency and epistemic injustice. This article argues that Eurocentrism remains a key factor determining the development of sociology and often remains ignored. This article argues that epistemic injustice – where female sociologists, non-white male sociologists, and entire sociological traditions outside the Western world are erased from the history of sociology, and where research methodology is overly Eurocentric – hinders the development of a global, pluralistic sociology. The article presents different trajectories of sociological development proposed by scholars, such as the mosaic system of knowledge, pluriversal sociology, connected sociologies, and global sociology. These perspectives are based on the idea that the world is made up of interconnected and interdependent historical experiences, and therefore sociological research should reflect this interconnectedness. The article argues that reflecting on eurocentrism as a problem is a necessary condition for the development of future global sociology. In Lithuania, this reflection is hampered not only by the fact that the existing canon of sociological research and teaching is often perceived as established and unquestionable, but also by the fact that Lithuanian sociology is characterised by a European self-identification.

(Non)homogeneous Lithuania: Differences in Values Between Men and Women

Tadas Vadvilavičius, Rasa Indriliūnaitė — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The article examines the value profiles among Lithuanian women and men. Data from the European Social Survey (Round 10) was used to perform latent profile analysis to determine the number of profiles among Lithuanian women and men. The latent profile analysis was performed to search for the best fitting profile number. The data confirmed that six-profiles solution is the best for both women and men. Only one significant difference was observed between the profiles. The findings of the research showed that men and women represent similar profiles based on the patterns of how value is important. These similarities among men and women suggest the existing of Lithuanian cultural profiles and that they are probably not gender-sensitive. However, considering the lack of a priori theory to exploit the findings, recommendations for future research are provided.

Closer to Citizens or Closer to the Market? Assessing the Priorities of Lithuanian Municipal Councillors

Ieva Dryžaitė, Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė, Aistė Lazauskienė, Viktorija Baranauskienė — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In recent decades, the public debate on the importance of local politics has become central to understanding the changes in the quality of local democracy. This article examines the importance of local politicians for contributing to the quality of democracy in the context of neoliberal policies. It is argued that local politicians (councillors), as the mediators between the citizens and government, can make a significant contribution to strengthening or weakening local democracy, depending on their political preferences, roles and orientations. Based on a quantitative survey of Lithuanian municipal councillors, this paper examines councillors’ agenda priorities and how they perceive their roles within local government. The paper concludes that there is a distinction between social welfare and economic competitiveness in the agenda priorities of local politicians. The findings contribute to the debate on changing local governance and transformations in local political leadership.

Contours of Compliance: Unravelling Factors Shaping Public Health Policy Preferences in the COVID-19 Era

Jurijs Ņikišins — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of public attitudes in shaping policy responses to crises. Political trust, conspiracy beliefs, support for democracy, and acceptance of authoritarian rule are key factors influencing public preferences for policy trade-offs, such as prioritising public health versus economic activity, public monitoring versus privacy, and compliance with government regulations versus individual autonomy. This study aims to examine how these factors shape Europeans’ policy priorities during the pandemic and how variations in political trust at the national level influence these preferences. Using data from the European Social Survey Round 10 (2020–2022), which includes responses from 29 countries, multilevel regression analysis is employed to explore individual and country-level dynamics. The results indicate that higher political trust is associated with greater compliance with government measures, while conspiracy beliefs and authoritarian inclinations correlate with resistance to restrictions. Support for democracy shows limited influence on policy preferences. The findings underscore the importance of political trust in fostering public cooperation during crises and highlight the challenges posed by conspiracy beliefs and authoritarian support. The study contributes to understanding the interplay of trust, governance, and public attitudes, offering insights for designing efficient and publicly acceptable crisis policies.

The Relationship between Trust, Socio-demographic Factors and Lithuanian Population’s Preparedness for Environmental Threats

Jonė Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė, Aistė Balžekienė — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The increasing risk of environmental disasters encourages more attention to be paid to increasing public preparedness. In this context, researchers usually focus on community resilience. Although this is an important part of community resilience, individual preparedness for crises is less frequently analysed. Studies analysing the factors determining individual preparedness pay much attention to sociodemographic characteristics. However, there is an increasing number of studies emphasising the importance of trust in government institutions and the community. The article presents a study that analysed the links between trust in the ability of state institutions, municipalities and communities to respond effectively to various crises and emergencies, and sociodemographic factors with the assessment of preparedness for environmental crises in Lithuania. The results of the study show that trust in state institutions, community, education, the place of residence and the assessment of the place in society are significantly related to the assessment of preparedness for ecological crises. The results contribute to understanding what factors shape society’s preparedness for environmental challenges and emphasise the importance of trust in the state and community.

Content Validity of Conventional Questionnaire-based Measurement of Trust

Ákos Bodor, Márk Hegedüs, Zoltán Grünhut — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study provides a comprehensive critical examination of the so-called standard trust variable, which is considered to be the most commonly used tool to measure trust through questionnaires. The critical focus follows the aspects of content validity through contrasting the data of standard trust measurement – both for the whole sample and at the individual level – with results of alternative, widespread questionnaire tools including the trust radius, the ANES trust question set and the trust index. This highly comprehensive examination of content validity, which is definitely a gap in the field of trust research, is made possible by data from our own survey. The main conclusion of the paper is that the standard trust variable too loosely identifies respondents who feel – by their own self-report – trust in others, since when compared with the other measures, it is consistently found that a significant proportion of these supposedly highly trusting individuals do not feel ‘generalised trust’.

The Intersection of Gender and Citizenship in Mixed Marriage Models

Agnė Egertė — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article is based on the presentation ‘The Intersection of Gender and Citizenship in Mixed Marriage Patterns: Trends and Dynamics in Lithuania’ given at the 16th National Conference of the Lithuanian Sociological Society “Global Challenges and Future Societies”’ (Egertė 2024: 59). The article analyses the rates of mixed marriages based on the statistical data on the marriages of Lithuanian and foreign citizens, and presents the trends and changes in these marriages in Lithuania between 2000 and 2023, focusing on gender and citizenship. World events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, Russia’s war in Ukraine and immigration are changing the trends and patterns of mixed marriages. The results of the study show that in the Lithuanian context, the decision to enter into a mixed marriage is not a typical phenomenon. From a gender perspective, it can be said that in the period from 2000 to 2021, marriages with foreign citizens were more typical for women with the Lithuanian citizenship than for men with the Lithuanian citizenship. Women are also more likely than men to marry citizens of European Union countries and citizens of geographically and culturally more distant countries. These unequal patterns of marital behaviour with respect to gender reflect the different mechanisms determining the marriages of men and women with the Lithuanian citizenship.

Social Vulnerability and Resilience of Disaster-driven Forced Migrants Aged 65 and Over: A Case of Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Survivors

Miki Suzuki Him, Şerif Esendemir — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the social resilience of older adults who migrated to Istanbul aftermath of the 6 February 2023 Earthquakes in Turkey. While many studies share the view that older adults are among the most vulnerable groups of people both in disaster and forced migration, a growing number of studies indicate the positive role of social capital for their resilience in disaster situations. In this study, 17 in-depth interviews and 40 structured interviews with senior earthquake survivors were conducted in Istanbul. The results of the thematic analysis of qualitative data and the descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative data show a central role of family ties (bonding social capital) for their resilience, yet a loss of social relations beyond close relatives (bridging social capital) and hence their increased dependency.

Multicultural Development of Religious Worldview in Contemporary Kazakhstani Society

Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The main objective is to study the trends in the transformation of the religious worldview in the contemporary Kazakhstani society and to explain them using the theoretical Dual-circuit Model of Religious World Formation. The application of interdisciplinary approaches enabled a quantitative analysis of the trends in the formation of the religious worldview, while a qualitative analysis revealed how those trends influenced various spheres of public life, including social relations, politics and cultural practices. Data were gathered from a survey of 1,500 respondents as part of the Central Asia Barometer Data waves 1–7 spanning the years 2017–2020, and an analysis of national statistics. Logit regression was utilised for data analysis. The findings of the study demonstrate that in the modern society, the influence of religious and secular aspects of worldview manifests in different ways, shaping civilisational trajectories and determining the future course of development. For numerous years, the Kazakhstani society has remained multicultural and interfaith. Islam is the predominant religion, followed by 69.3% of the population, followed by Christianity at 17.2%. Other religious affiliations are represented by less than 0.1% of the populace, while approximately 2.3% identify as non-believers. Employing a cultural-sociological approach, a bi-contour model of religious worldview formation in the contemporary Kazakhstani society has been developed. The findings of this study hold applicability not only to Kazakhstan but to numerous countries, given their universal nature. The essence lies in the application of universally recognised principles in balancing interests between religion and secularism: a secular form of governance, constitutionally enshrined rights to religious tolerance and freedom of belief, religious institutions and spiritual values.

Ethnic-regional Identity of Polish Youth in Šalčininkai District

Vidmantas Vyšniauskas — Mon, 26 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the intersection of regional and ethnic identity among the Polish youth in the Šalčininkai District by analysing theoretical literature and empirical field research data.
Anthropological field research was conducted during the summer months from 2016 to 2019 and from 10 February 2024 to 31 October 2024. The data was gathered using qualitative methods, including observation, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. This article draws on the data from 10 young ethnic Poles (6 women and 4 men).
The findings suggest that regional and ethnic identities share three key points of convergence: 1) both are rooted in an individual’s identification with a specific territory, 2) both are shaped by a common language and culture, and 3) both rely on a shared group name.
The data reveals that a segment of young people living in the Šalčininkai District who identify as Poles perceive their identity through the lens of ethnic-regional belonging. Participants in the study expressed a strong attachment to their home territory, emphasising that both they and their ancestors were born in what is now the Šalčininkai District. This deep-rooted connection fosters a sense of emotional and historical belonging to the land.
Additionally, young people closely identify with the local culture and language of the Šalčininkai District. They recognise distinct cultural and linguistic differences between themselves and ethnic Poles living in other regions of Lithuania or abroad. These differences reinforce their sense of belonging to their ‘own’ land and help differentiate them from Poles in other areas.
Finally, participants identify with specific group names that define the Polish community in Šalčininkai, such as ‘miejscowy Polak’ and ‘lokalny Polak’. The term ‘tutejszy Polak’ is used less frequently. All these terms mean ‘local Pole’. These labels signify individuals who share the key identity markers: the regional Polish language, cultural traditions, and a strong connection to their homeland.

Filosofija. Sociologija

Title

Contents

Eurocentrism in Sociology: Critique and Alternatives

(Non)homogeneous Lithuania: Differences in Values Between Men and Women

Closer to Citizens or Closer to the Market? Assessing the Priorities of Lithuanian Municipal Councillors

Contours of Compliance: Unravelling Factors Shaping Public Health Policy Preferences in the COVID-19 Era

The Relationship between Trust, Socio-demographic Factors and Lithuanian Population’s Preparedness for Environmental Threats

Content Validity of Conventional Questionnaire-based Measurement of Trust

The Intersection of Gender and Citizenship in Mixed Marriage Models

Social Vulnerability and Resilience of Disaster-driven Forced Migrants Aged 65 and Over: A Case of Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Survivors

Multicultural Development of Religious Worldview in Contemporary Kazakhstani Society

Ethnic-regional Identity of Polish Youth in Šalčininkai District