The Role of religion in the lives of the last Soviet generation in Lithuania

ENThis paper contributes to the academic debates about the compatibility of religion and modernity and reveals the way Soviet modernization has affected the religious values of the last Soviet generation in Lithuania. It discusses the role and dynamic of religion, intergenerational transmission, and the manner in which religion becomes or does not become a resource for an individual’s social mobility. The article, focusing on the last Soviet generation (b. 1970–1985) living in Lithuania, is based on analysis of 88 narratives of representatives of this generation. Trends of religious individualism, critical engagement with institutional religiosity and conformity with religious identification with being a Roman Catholic are evident from the narratives of the last Soviet generation. The research data showed that less educated informants placed more emphasis on the importance of religious values in their lives, while more educated ones critically engaged with religion’s role in their lives, those of previous generations and Lithuanian public life. Keywords: religion, generations, religious socialization, social mobility, post-communist society. [From the publication]