Social Research Center
The Social Research Center was founded in 2004 as a structural unit of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). The most researchers of the Center are affiliated with the Department of Sociology Department at VMU. They have been and are involved in a considerable number of national and international projects.
During the last decade the researchers have carried out research in different fields of sociological investigation such as social exclusion, sociospatial segregation, sociology of crime and criminal justice, citizenship education, environment, consumer society, health and primary health care, civil society, family and gender relations, popular culture, nationalism and ethnic groups.
The Center has developed strong relations of cooperation with Linkoping University (Sweden), Maastricht university (Netherlands), Debrecen University (Hungary), Osnabrueck University (Germany), Valladolid University (Spain), European Enterprise organization (Greece) and many other national and international institutions.
Since 2010 the Center publishes a journal Culture and Society: Journal of Social Research available at http://culturesociety.vdu.lt
Contacts
Social Research Center
Faculty of Social Sciences
Vytautas Magnus University
Jonavos str. 66-211
Kaunas 44191 Lithuania
Phone +370 37 327822
arturas.tereskinas@vdu.lt
Current Researchers of the Center
prof. Artūras Tereškinas – chief researcher and head of the center
Prof. Aušra Maslauskaitė – chief researcher
Prof. Milda Ališauskienė – chief researcher
Assoc. Prof. Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė – senior researcher
Assoc. Prof. Rūta Brazienė – senior researcher
Dr. Aistė Lazauskienė – senior researcher
Dr. Rasa Indriliūnaitė – researcher
Dr. Apolonijus Žilys – researcher
Dr. Inga Mikutavičienė – researcher
Ieva Dryžaitė – junior researcher
Viktorija Baranauskienė – junior researcher
Ernesta Platūkytė-Didžiulienė – junior researcher.
Mission
- To conduct theoretical and empirical sociological research of contemporary society
- Prepare and publish sociological research targeting scientists, public policy practitioners and students
- To participate in evaluating social projects and social research at national and international levels
- To provide consultations on theories and methodologies of social research for different target groups
- To provide public policy recommendations for different stakeholders
- To organize research conferences, seminars and workshops for academic community, public policy practitioners and wider audience
- To encourage social dialogue between the academic community, civic society, government and business sector.
Research
The research conducted at the Center reveals difficulties, opportunities and changes in social and civic participation in different social contexts in Lithuania; it contributes to the understanding of the models of identity construction and their diversity within changing cultural, economic and political conditions; it helps to identify groups that encounter social exclusion in contemporary society, to learn about the reasons for their exclusion and to investigate their strategies of survival. Researchers of the Center have published numerous studies, have participated in a significant number of research projects and have prepared recommendations on how to reduce social exclusion and to ensure civic participation and vitality of different social groups. They have also developed measures for empowering socially excluded groups, assessing the quality of social services and analyzing policies of social welfare. Results of the research are particularly significant for the local, national and international institutions directly engaged in the formation and execution of policies related to employment, equal opportunities, poverty reduction, health, family and civic identities.
Selected National and International Research Projects
Inequality, Urbanization and Territorial Cohesion: Developing the European Social Model of Economic Growth and Democratic Capacity (COSHMO) H2020-REV-INEQUAL-2016. 2017-2021.
Families, Inequalities and Demographic Processes. no. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0020 (Support to Research Activities of Scientists and Other Researcher (Global Grant). 2017-2021.
Intermunicipal Cooperation and Implementation of Public Services: Options for Network Governance and Public Interest Dilemma in Lithuania. no. S-MIP-17-3. 2017-2019.
Housing Provision for the Youth: Processes, Problems and Solutions in Lithuania (JABS) (GER-007/2017). 2017-2018.
Mayors in Lithuania: Political Leadership in Local Government. no. MIP-031/2015, 2015-2017.
Social Exclusion and Social Participation in Transitional Lithuania. VP1-3.1-ŠMM-07-K “Support to Research Activities of Scientists and Other Researcher (Global Grant). 2012-2014.
Forms of Criminal Masculinity in the Lithuanian Correctional Facilities and Search for Alternatives. The Research Council of Lithuania. 2012-2013.
Social Exclusion in the Lithuanian Cities: Forms of Spatial Segregation and Polarization. The Research Council of Lithuania. 2010-2011.
Gender (In)Equality, Public Policy and the Future of Fertility in Lithuania. The Research Council of Lithuania. 2010-2011.
Mobility of Lithuanian Scientists: A Qualitative Study. The Ministry of Education of the Respublic of Lithuania and Vytautas Magnus University, 2009-2010.
East of West: Setting a New Central and Eastern European Media Research Agenda. European Commission, COST A30 project, 2005-2009.
Possibilities of Disabled Persons’ Employment and Education in Lithuania. Vytautas Magnus University and the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman. 2007.
Modern Men in Enlarged Europe II: Family-Friendly Policies. European Commission project. Vytautas Magnus University and the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, 2005-2006.
Equal and Safe at Work. EQUAL project. Lithuanian Gay League, Vytautas Magnus University, ESTEP and the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, 2005-2008.
Modern Men in Enlarged Europe: Developing Innovative Gender Equality Strategies. European Commission project. Vytautas Magnus University and the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, 2004-2005.
The EU Enlargement and its Commitment to Women. European Commission project. Vytautas Magnus University and the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, 2004.
Selected Publications
Monographs and research studies:
Tereškinas, A., Petkevičiūtė, R., Bučaitė-Vilkė, J., and R. Indriliūnaitė, R. 2016. Vyrai nusivylimo ekonomikose: tarp gero gyvenimo ir socialinės atskirties (Men in the Economies of Disappointment: Between Good Life and Social Exclusion). Vilnius: VDU, Versus Aureus.
Tereškinas, A., Bučaitė-Vilkė, J., eds. 2015. Socialinė atskirtis ir geras gyvenimas Lietuvoje (Social Exclusion and Good Life in Lithuania) (with J. Bučaitė-Vilkė). Kaunas, Vilnius: VDU, Versus Aureus.
Bučaitė-Vilkė, J., Purvaneckienė, G., Vaitkevičius, R., Tereškinas, A. 2012. Lyčių politika ir gimstamumo ateitis (Gender Policies and the Future of Fertility). Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University.
Tereškinas, A. 2011. Vyrų pasaulis: vyrai ir žaizdos vyriškumas Lietuvoje (It’s a Man’s World: Men and Wounded Masculinities in Lithuania). Vilnius: Baltos lankos.
Tereškinas, A. 2007. Esė apie skirtingus kūnus: kultūra, lytis, seksualumas (Culture, Gender, and Sexuality: Essays on Different Bodies). Vilnius: Apostrofa.
Tereškinas, A., Reingardienė, J., eds. 2005. Men and Fatherhood: New Forms of Masculinity in Europe. Vilnius, Eugrimas,
Articles:
Tereškinas, A. 2018. Postsocialist Gender Failures: Men in the Economies of Recognition. In
Yulia Gradskova, Ildikó Asztalos Morell, eds. Gendering Postsocialism. Old Legacies and New Hierarchies. New York: Routledge.
Maslauskaitė, A., Tereškinas, A., 2017. Involving Nonresident Lithuanian Fathers in Child-rearing: The Negative Impact of Income Inequalities and Sociolegal Policies. Men and Masculinities, vol. 20, no. 5, p. 609-629.
Tereškinas, A., Žilys, A. 2017. Distrust, Powerlessness and Sociospatial Differentiation in Lithuanian Cities. Trames: A Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 21, issue 4 p. 345–369.
Vaičiūnienė, R., Tereškinas, A. 2017. Transformations in Prison Subculture and Adjustment to Imprisonment in Post-Soviet Lithuanian Penitentiary Institutions”. East European Politics and Societies, vol. 31, no. 3, p. 197–218.
Tereškinas, A. 2016. Family in the Narratives of Good Life: Performing Masculinities in the Lithuanian Correctional Facilities. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, vol. XLVII, no. 1: 45–63.
Bučaitė-Vilkė, J., Tereškinas, A. 2016. Lithuanian Men’s Struggles with Precarious Life: Unemployment, Working Identities and Strategies of Survival. Journal of Baltic Studies 47 (2) (2016): 197–218. DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2015.1105832.
Tereškinas, A., Žilys, A. 2014. Kultūrinis vartojimas ir socioerdvinė diferenciacija Lietuvos didmiesčiuose (Cultural Consumption and Socio-Spatial Differentiation in Lithuanian Cities). Filosofija, Sociologija, vol. 25, no. 4 (2014): 272–281.
Tereškinas, A., Petkevičiūtė, R. 2013. Gero gyvenimo fantazijos ir įkalintasis vyriškumas: Alytaus pataisos namų atvejis (Fantasies of Good Life and Prison Masculinities: The Case of Alytus Correctional Facility) (with R. Petkevičiūtė). Lyčių studijos ir tyrimai, vol. 11: 28–37.
Tereškinas, A. 2011. Post-Soviet Masculinities, Shame and the Archives of Social Suffering in Contemporary Lithuania. In Joanna Regulska and Bonnie G. Smith, ed., From Cold War to the European Union: Women and Gender in Contemporary Europe. New York: Routledge, p. 194–211.
Tereškinas, A., Purvaneckienė, G. 2012. The Influence of Reconciliation of Work and Family on the Lithuanian Population’s Childbearing Intentions. Culture and Society: Journal of Social Research, 3 (1): 51–67.
Bučaitė-Vilkė, J. Gimstamumo skatinimo politikos įgyvendinimo praktikos: Šiaurės Europos šalių atvejis // Kultūra ir visuomenė: socialinių tyrimų žurnalas 2012 (2).
Ališauskienė, M. 2011. The New Age Milieu in Lithuania: Popular Catholicism or Religious Alternative? Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania. Eds. Milda Ališauskienė & Ingo W. Schröder. 151-168.
Ališauskienė, M., Schröder, I.W. 2011. Introduction. Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania. Eds. Milda Ališauskienė & Ingo W. Schröder. 1-16. Surrey: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-0912-0.
Tereškinas, A. 2010. Limited Sexual Citizenship in Lithuania. In L. Martinsson and E. Reimers, eds., Norm Struggles: Sexualities in Contentions. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 142–159.
Tereškinas, A., Dryžaitė, I. 2009. Darbininkai vyrai ir socialinis kentėjimas šiuolaikinėje Lietuvoje. (Working-Class Men and Social Suffering in Contemporary Lithuania), Sociologija/ Sociology 2: 62–81.
Tereškinas, A. 2008. Men on Paternity Leave in Lithuania: Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity. In Irina Novikova, ed. Gender Matters in the Baltics. Riga: University of Latvia, p. 399–413.
Tereškinas, A., Šėporaitytė, D. 2008. Physically Disabled Men in Lithuania: Between the Disability Disguise and Oppositional Masculinity. In Irina Novikova, ed. Gender Matters in the Baltics. Riga: University of Latvia, 2008, p. 380–398.
Tereškinas, A. 2007. Lithuanian Gays and Lesbians’ ‘Coming Out’ in the Public/Private Divide: Sexual Citizenship Lithuanian Style. In Berteke Waaldijk, ed., Gender and Citizenship in a Multicultural Context, Peter Lang Verlag, p. 93–108.
Tereškinas, A. 2007. Who’s Afraid of Men? Researching Men and Teaching Masculinity Studies. Social Sciences 1 (55): 15–21.
Tereškinas, A. 2006. “Sexual Minorities, Mass Media and Civil Society in Post-Communist Lithuania,” in Steven Totosy de Zapetnek et al., ed., The New Central and East European Culture. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, p. 329–338.
Tereškinas, A., Šėporaitytė, D. Disability and Gender: Physically Disabled Men’s Perceptions of Masculinity. Social Sciences 2 (52) (2006): 121–132.
Tereškinas, A., Reingardienė, J. 2006. Reconciliation of Work and Family Life in Lithuania: Challenges and Opportunities for Gender Equality. In J. Reingardienė, ed., Between Paid and Unpaid Work: Family Friendly Policies and Gender Equality in Europe. Vilnius: Eugrimas, p. 27–62.
Šėporaitytė, D. 2006. Negalia ir lytis: fiziškai neįgalių moterų moteriškumo sampratos. Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas 2, p. 108-130.
