Age and Workplace Discrimination in Lithuania

This paper aims to disclose an expression of age and workplace discrimination in the Lithuanian labor market. The paper is discussing theoretical aspects of age discrimination and presents the results of the sociological survey research results carried out in 2014. The purpose of this paper is to disclose age and workplace discrimination at the Lithuanian labor market. Analysis of scientific literature and quantitative research results allows to state that older adults are experiencing discrimination because of, among others, their age, gender, and stereotypes. Research results revealed that age and workplace discrimination is increasing with the age of the respondents, e.g., the expression in older age groups is more intensive. For the age group of 40-50, age discrimination is lower than the full sample average. Age discrimination is exposing for the age group of 56-60 and is the most intensive for persons 60 years old and older. The research results revealed that older employees have obstacles for career and future perspectives; older people are more often facing discriminative behavior, lacking social justice, insufficient personal respect labor relations, and are more often experiencing pressure to leave the job or facing unreasonable dismissal

In comparative perspective: the effects of incarceration abroad on penal subjectivity among prisoners in Lithuania

This article looks at how global flows of people and policies affect penal subjectivity among prisoners in Lithuania. Those who had previously been incarcerated abroad perceive their punishment in Lithuania’s reforming penal system in comparative terms. We find that international prison experience may either diminish or increase the sense of the severity of the current punishment. Respondents often felt more comfortable in a familiar culture of punishment in Lithuania that emphasizes autonomy and communality. Moreover, internationalized prisoners perceive prison reform emulating West European models as a threat to this culture and are able to articulate comparative critiques of this reform and contest its effects

MAUT metodo naudojimas esant apibrėžtumo sąlygoms

Multiple criteria decision-making methods enable to choose the optimal decision, if his criterions is contradictorys. In herein paper is describe MAUT – multiattribute utility theory. This method is reasoned in theory. MAUT up for indeterminations situations, but can to use for determinations situations. In this method multiple criteria problem solvable with the help of unitary utility functions.Santraukos nėra

Conclusions

Almost thirty years ago, Lithuania became independent from the communist Soviet regime. This resulted in large social, economic, demographic and political changes. In addition to the substantial benefits that were brought by the restoration of independence and the ‘return to Europe’ (Kornai, 2006), major macro-level changes also resulted in extreme population decline. The geopolitical and economic position of Lithuania completely changed: from a relatively affluent and prosperous region in the Soviet Union, it became a relatively poor country on the periphery of the European Union. In parallel, from the receiver of large inflows of immigrants from other Soviet Republics, it started to lose its population due to large-scale out-migration to Western European countries. Today, Lithuania has one of the fastest shrinking populations in the world. Since the 2000s, the average annual population decline has been -1.2 percent (Statistics Lithuania, 2017). As this thesis has shown, population decline, where the main factor is out-migration, has been accompanied by changing residential patterns and increasing socio-spatial inequalities throughout the country. Until now, there has been very little academic research focusing on the processes and consequences of these socio-spatial developments in Lithuania. Moreover, the extent to which the existing literature properly captures the ongoing processes remains an open question. This thesis set out to fill the current knowledge gaps concerning the recent socio-spatial transformation processes and their consequences in Lithuania. The thesis aimed to contribute answers to the following questions: –– What are the main features and drivers of socio-spatial change in post-socialist Lithuania? –– Why, despite the growing economy and improvements in the standard of living, is Lithuania facing major challenges related to extreme population decline and increasing socio-spatial inequalities? ‘Lithuania Disappearing’, ‘Lithuania does not stop its decline’, ‘The threat of emigration’, ‘The forecast is bleak’ – such headlines have appeared on the front pages of the Lithuanian media almost daily in recent years. The focus of this thesis was not on the population decline per se, but on the social and spatial consequences that are related to this extreme decline. This thesis has highlighted some of the most problematic trends in socio-spatial development. Its main focus was on four interdependent areas of socio-spatial change: population decline, shifting residential patterns, processes of segregation and spatial inequalities. The emphasis was on the spatial dimensions of these processes. The thesis described the trajectories of the recent socio-spatial developments and examined why the scale and impact of the population change is exceptionally high in Lithuania. The thesis also showed how the Soviet-designed socio-spatial structures in Lithuania have adapted to the market economy environment. This study contributes to the existing literature by integrating the key processes of population decline, migration and segregation, which have been taking place in a rapidly changing post-socialist context. While the focus was on Lithuania, the results of this study will also be of value for other CEE countries, many of which have experienced similar trajectories of change during recent decades. The dissertation included five empirical chapters, with each chapter presenting different aspects of socio-spatial change and addressing specific research questions. Chapters 2 and 3 focused on the country as a whole. These chapters analysed the geographical patterns of population decline and the role of selective migration on population redistribution and growing socio-spatial inequalities. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 focused on areas where the socio-spatial transformations have been the most intense – the metropolitan regions and, in particular, the Vilnius metropolitan region. These chapters contribute to the limited knowledge concerning the processes of ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in Lithuania. These are also the first studies analysing how the levels of segregation have changed over time in Lithuania. The remainder of this concluding chapter is structured as follows. Firstly, the main findings of the five empirical chapters are summarised. Section 7.3 then presents an overall reflection and discussion of the research findings. In Section 7.4, the limitations of the thesis are discussed and, finally, Section 7.5 sketches some directions for further research

Žydų gelbėjimas Lietuvoje Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais: lietuviško muziejinio naratyvo kūrimo praktikos

Lithuanian historiography shows that the topic of rescuing the Jews in Lithuania during World War II (WWII) is intertwined into different narrative schemes: the pre-Holocaust story of the rescue of Jewish refugees at the beginning of WWII and the topic of the Holocaust in Lithuania. The question is: what narrative schemes of the rescue of the Jews are used in Lithuanian museums, what does the museum want to communicate to the public on the topic of the rescue of the Jews, by what means does the museum create a historical narrative, what historical cultural events promote the emergence of themes of the rescue of the Jews in one or another Lithuanian museum? The analysis of four cases (Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History, ‘Sugihara House’ in Kaunas, The Ninth Fort of Kaunas, ‘Lost Shtetl’ museum under construction in Šeduva) is used to answer these questions. It revealed that the aim of the topic of rescuing the Jews is to present the most objective, all-encompassing image of this past and to perform several important functions with the help of it. This is the education of Lithuanian and foreign visitors (the museum as a space of knowledge), honoring, remembering and thanking the Jewish saviors (the museum as a memorial space), refuting stereotypes related to the rescue of Jews (the museum as a space of demythification).Lietuviška istoriografija rodo, kad žydų gelbėjimo Lietuvoje Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais tema įsiterpia į skirtingas naratyvines schemas: ikiholokaustinį Antrojo pasaulinio karo pradžios žydų pabėgėlių gelbėjimo pasakojimą ir Holokausto Lietuvoje temą. Klaustina: kokios naratyvinės žydų gelbėjimo schemos yra naudojamos Lietuvos muziejuose, ką žydų gelbėjimo tema muziejus nori pranešti visuomenei, kokiomis priemonėmis kuria muziejinį istorinį pasakojimą, kokie istorinės kultūros įvykiai skatina žydų gelbėjimo temų viename ar kitame Lietuvos muziejuje atsiradimą? Atsakymams į šiuos klausimus pasitelkiama keturių atvejų (Vilniaus Gaono žydų istorijos muziejaus, „Sugiharos namų“ Kaune, Kauno IX forto, Šeduvoje kuriamo muziejaus „Dingęs Štetlas“) analizė. Ji atskleidė, kad žydų gelbėjimo tema siekiama pateikti kuo objektyvesnį, visa aprėpiantį šios praeities vaizdinį ir pasitelkus jį atlikti kelias svarbias funkcijas. Tai Lietuvos ir užsienio lankytojų edukavimas (muziejus kaip pažinimo erdvė), žydų gelbėtojų pagerbimas, prisiminimas, padėka jiems (muziejus kaip memorialinė erdvė), su žydų gelbėjimu susijusių stereotipų paneigimas (muziejus kaip demitifikacijos erdvė)

Introduction

Perhaps what first strikes you when you travel into Central and Eastern Europe is the incredible mélange of practices, rhythms, and identities that flow through particular places; past and present landscapes seem literally to tumble over each other suggesting that something new is underway, something old is being sustained, and something that combines the two is emerging. State socialist and market economies are articulating and re-articulating with one another in a heady mix of creative destruction and social transformation. (Pickles and Smith, 2007, p. 152) The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signalled a major change for Europe, especially for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries1 (Gentile, Tammaru, & van Kempen, 2012; Kornai, 2006; Kovács, 1999; Shleifer & Treisman, 2014). From a Soviet-type communism2 with centrally planned economies, CEE countries suddenly shifted to a capitalist system with market-led economies. Almost overnight the political and economic systems completely changed. This shift had a major effect on population developments in these countries. All of them experienced a drop in fertility rates, mass emigration and an increase in regional inequalities. Of all the post-socialist countries, it is Lithuania that stands out the most, experiencing an extreme drop in population (Eurostat, 2017; United Nations, 2015).3 Since the 1990s, Lithuania has lost more than 20 percent of its population, which makes it one of the world’s fastest shrinking countries. From a historical point of view, an extreme population decline seems contradictory in Lithuania. For several decades the citizens of Lithuania had passionately sought a new sovereignty that would bring independent and democratic development to the country. This goal was finally achieved in 1990. In general, independence was a success and an accomplishment that led to a new economic and constitutional order (Burneika, 2012; Kornai, 2006; Leyk, 2016; Stanilov, 2007). However, the opening of the borders to the West and the free flow of capital and labour (especially after integration into the EU), meant that many people decided to leave Lithuania to look for better opportunities (mostly economic) abroad (Klüsener, Stankūnienė, Grigoriev, & Jasilionis, 2015; Sipavičienė & Stankūnienė, 2011; The Economist, 2017). Many of them thought to be leaving temporarily, but stayed and never returned. The reasons behind the choice to emigrate are quite obvious: although GDP per capita levels are similar among CEE countries (The World Bank, 2017b), Lithuania is distinguished in having one of the lowest wages, pensions and social spending rates, as well as a high degree of social inequality (Aidukaitė, 2011, 2014). Furthermore, population decline is accelerating even though the economy of the country is growing and standards of living are improving. While the processes taking place on the national level are quite well recognised in Lithuania, little is known about how macro-level changes are affecting different spaces and groups in society. Sharp population decline has been accompanied by an increase in regional inequalities and levels of segregation. These processes are strongly linked with Soviet spatial planning principles (see e.g. Clayton & Richardson, 1989; Demko & Regulska, 1987) that were more extensively adopted in Lithuania than in other CEE countries. For several decades, planning policy in Lithuania favoured the organised distribution of the population and economic activities (Šešelgis, 1996; Vanagas, Krišjane, Noorkoiv, & Staniūnas, 2002). As a result, a quite uniform – spatially and socially – society was created. In 1990, the moment market forces came into play, major changes in the socio-spatial fabric began to occur and the distribution of the population started to change, having major spatial and social consequences. For example, economic restructuring led to a spatial mismatch between the distribution of labour and available jobs; although residential patterns started to change, the network of public amenities remained almost unaffected (until now). The general feature of this process was that, economically and demographically, socio-spatial disparities started to increase within the country, with the larger urban regions becoming the ‘winners’ and the peripheral rural regions the ‘losers’ in this transformation process. Vilnius, whose development was suppressed in Soviet times, began growing extensively after 1990 through the process of suburbanisation. The process was similar to but much quicker than what had occurred in Western countries two decades earlier (from the 1970s onwards). In Lithuania, this led to increasing regional inequalities, which was inhibited to some degree by the socialist system, but now, the market-led system left regions much more exposed. Despite the fact that these recent socio-spatial changes continue to take place at an unusually high speed, these processes have received very little scientific attention. The aim of this thesis is to gain more insight into these socio-spatial transformation processes and their consequences in Lithuania. The thesis investigates the main features and drivers of socio-spatial change in post-socialist Lithuania. The results of the research will provide a better understanding of the development processes and will reveal how the Sovietdesigned socio-spatial structures adapted to a market economy environment. The results of this thesis will also show why we should be concerned, despite the growing economy and improvements in the standard of living, as Lithuania is facing major challenges related to extreme population decline and increasing socio-spatial inequality. Until recently, doing socio-spatial research on Lithuania was a major challenge due to very limited data availability. One of the achievements of this thesis was to gain access to more detailed statistical data. As a result, this thesis is the first research project to use individual-level geo-coded Lithuanian census data for the whole population. The rest of this introductory chapter is structured as follows. Section 1.2 provides the background, presenting a historical overview and explaining the specific setting of Lithuania, also offering information about the general macro-level changes that took place in the socialist and post-socialist periods. This background information is crucial to an understanding of the more recent socio-spatial changes and processes behind them. Section 1.3 offers a more focused discussion of the literature on population decline, migration, suburbanisation, segregation and increasing regional inequalities. It provides a literature review concerning the processes that are both typical to Lithuania but also shared with many other countries. This section aims to demonstrate that the Soviet legacy formed specific conditions for rapid and profound socio-spatial change in Lithuania. In Section 1.4, the gaps in current knowledge are identified, and the aim and research questions of the thesis are presented. Finally, Section 1.5 outlines the data that were used in the empirical chapters. Apart from this introduction, the thesis consists of five empirical chapters and a conclusion

Embodying ressentimentful victimhood : virtual reality re-enactment of the Warsaw uprising in the Second World War Museum in Gdansk

This article examines how the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Poland, employs an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience ‘Postcard from the Uprising’ (Kartka z Powstania) in order to build an affective memory regime that prescribes an emotional repertoire for museum audiences. By engaging in a narrative inquiry of the VR experience, I demonstrate how it evokes the emotional dynamic of ressentiment, which has been identified as the affective driver of right-wing populism and which informs the historical policy of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. The ressentimentful emotional regime is predicated on (1) the repeated re-experiencing of perceived injustice and victimhood, which requires (2) an outlet of negative emotions directed at the enemy and (3) a reclaiming of self-worth and dignity along with an ennobled and morally superior victimhood position. The VR experience functions as an emotion training device through which ‘appropriate’ emotions towards the past are instilled in the audience. The VR narrative transforms collective historical victimhood from a powerless to a morally superior position and may help the PiS in harnessing feelings of injustice and victimhood present among the museum visitors, who yearn to overcome these feelings and reclaim their self-worth and dignity.Peer reviewe

Upcoming legal challenges for cross-border e-health services in the EU

The paper briefly describes the current EU legal framework in the healthcare field and assess to which extent it could apply to the provision of cross border eHealth services. In particular, it analyses the provision of such services from the free movement angle, i.e. whether EU law guarantees to health professionals access to and exercise of activiti es in the 3rd type of situations, as well as whether the insured persons have the right to reimbursement of costs of such healthcare from their social security system