Lithuanian Family Change Study

It has been nearly 100 years since Lithuania became independent in 1918.In this study,the nearly 100 years of modern history of Lithuania after the first world war is divided into traditional period of pre-Soviet from 1918-1944,the Soviet Union period from 1945 to 1991 and the after Soviet period of westwards.It intends to reconcile traditional culture and new social ethics according to research on Lithuanian family changes of different social contexts.And according to interpretation and comparison on different stages of family life cycle to explore the following questions:During the process of social transition from the traditional period,Soviet period and after Soviet period,how the modernization path of Lithuanian family changes,and what are the special features.In the study of family change from cross culture perspective,family modernization theory is the most inclusive and explanatory.It argues that the industrial revolution led to major changes in the social division of labor and power relations within the family,family size,kinship and gender roles.And culture,economy,society and other reasons led to the modernization of the family.This study will take the revised family modernization theory as the theoretical framework to analyze the changes of Lithuania family road through the establishment of family,spouse relations,children upbringing and breakdown of family.Through the study of 11 months,from November 2015 to October 2016,in Lithuania of Kaunas,with the research methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews,field survey was carried out in the new town,the old town and Eiguliai community.The study shows that industrialization and urbanization are the most important factors leading to the modernization of Lithuanian families.Lithuanian family is showing a trend consistent with the world family changes in the process of modernization changes by the industrialization,urbanization and the impact of Western values,which are smaller family size,independent spouse choice,higher women status,open sexual opinion,lower rate of giving birth and so on.At the same time,the interaction of the historical upsurge of its religious beliefs,the inheritance of cultural traditions as well as industrialization and urbanization in different periods make the Lithuanian family changes show its special features,which are as follows:Firstly,the family members have extreme independence in the process of modernization of Lithuanian family;Secondly,religious power and cultural tradition still play important roles in the changes of Lithuanian family.