Milda AlisauskieneVytautas Magnus University · Department of Sociology
Milda Alisauskiene
PhD
About
51
Publications
5,251
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62
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am sociologist of religion, professor at the Department of Sociology at Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania. Since 2020 I am leading two research projects, one focusing on minority religions, their relations with Lithuanian society and state and the other focusing on religion and gender equality in the Baltics. In these projects mixed social research methodology - semi structured interviews, population survey and socio-historical analysis of the legal documents - is applied.
Additional affiliations
January 2021 - May 2021
Position
- Principal Investigator
Description
- Baltic Research Program project “Religion and Gender Equality: Baltic and Nordic Developments".
July 2020 - present
Position
- Principal Investigator
Description
- Research Council of Lithuania funded project "Minority Religions in Contemporary Lithuania".
March 2018 - present
Position
- Senior Researcher
Description
- Research project “The Processes of Family, Inequality and Demography", funded by Research Council of Lithuania.
Education
September 2003 - October 2009
September 1999 - June 2002
September 1994 - June 1999
Publications
Publications (51)
Social research data shows that Jehovah’s Witnesses experience social ostracism, distancing, marginalization, and labeling in contemporary Lithuania. This article searches for an explanation for these public attitudes by applying a sociohistorical approach to the analysis of the processes of othering and resilience of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lithuan...
This paper analyses the phenomenon of anticlericalism in contemporary Lithuania, applying a socio-historical approach. It starts with a discussion on the problem of criticism of religion and anticlericalism in contemporary societies, and particularly Lithuania. The empirical part of the paper provides a statistical data analysis of two surveys, con...
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of anticlericalism in contemporary Lithuania, applying a sociohistorical approach. It starts with a discussion on the problem of criticism of religion and anticlericalism in contemporary societies, and particularly Lithuania. The empirical part of the paper provides a statistical data analysis of two surveys, cond...
This paper aims to analyze the way religious identification and practices influence family practices in the division of labor in childcare and housework in contemporary Lithuania. The analysis is based on a quantitative survey (n = 3000) representing the last Soviet generation born between 1970 and 1984. The sample was distributed across five group...
The attitudes and evolution of views of various religious organizations on human rights are well recognized in scholarly work. However, research on the potential links connecting religious views, beliefs and identities with perceptions of and support for human rights seems to be far less developed. This paper aims to bridge this gap.
Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions is the third volume in a series of books initiated by INFORM devoted to the issue of minority religions and law. (INFORM is an independent educational charity based in London that focuses on minority religions and sects.) As co-editor Eileen Barker puts it, previous volumes published in the series have mai...
This article discusses features of women's religious leadership , social innovations, and transmission of existing gender relations patterns within diverse new religions in post-communist society in Lithuania. The article is based on participant observation in Pagan and Hindu-origin religious groups and interviews with women leaders of these groups...
The introduction to this special issue on religious leadership in new religions discusses questions arising from existing published theoretical and empirical research into religious leadership. Theoretical contributions are made in articles by five authors, James T. Richardson, David G. Bromley, Liselotte Frisk, Susan J. Palmer, and Milda Ališauski...
This 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 be...
This chapter uses historical and sociological perspectives to analyse religious traditions and groups of Hindu origin in Lithuania, and it discusses their diverse forms of expression and public attitudes toward them. First, the article describes the historical evolution of Lithuanian interest in South Asia and the development of academic studies on...
This chapter analyzes the social history of irreligion – freethinking, non-belief and atheism - in Lithuania starting from the 19th century to present days. It aims to disclose how phenomenon of irreligion manifested in the religious field of Lithuania dominated by Roman Catholicism. The chapter covers three periods of the country’s history startin...
This study analyzes the attitudes towards the right to life and the religiosity of young people (16–18 years old) in Lithuania. We will focus on euthanasia and abortion as two cases indicating attitudes of young people towards the possible limitation of the right to life. Abortion and euthanasia are rarely debated in public in Lithuania; from time...
This article contributes to the ongoing theoretical and empirical discussions within the studies of media and religion on the interaction of these social institutions in contemporary society. First, we locate our research questions within the recent theoretical debates on relations between media and religion in contemporary society, the US, Western...
In this article I argue, based on observations as well as on recent sociological analysis, that in contemporary Lithuania religion is becoming more public, but at the same time more individual and private. Generally, in the Lithuanian public sphere religion means Roman Catholicism. The reasons for this are manifold. Firstly, demographical data (200...
The pyramid of Merkinė, constructed by Povilas Žėkas in the southern part of Lithuania in 2002, began within the Lithuanian Roman Catholic milieu only to develop years later into an independent religious movement. In this article, I analyze the history and development of the pyramid in light of changes affecting religions in Lithuania during the la...
The introduction to this special issue on new religions in Eastern Europe provides a historical background on the place of new religious movements in the region during the Soviet and post-Soviet era. This includes the varieties of new and alternative religions active in these societies and how this changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The gue...
This paper suggests comparative analysis of attitudes toward religious freedom among young people in two different political and religious contexts in Belarus and Lithuania. The aim of the research is to understand whether belonging to religious, non-religious, and religious in general sense groups as well as to majority/ minority religions togethe...
This monograph focusing on groups at risk of social exclusion reflects current
issues in the contemporary Lithuanian welfare system in which the
dilemmas of neoliberalism, social justice and egalitarianism as well as the
constant search for a better life are all intertwined. Difficult life stories of the
members of these groups allow us to take a c...
The paper discusses the aspects of social exclusion of religious minorities within homogeneous religious field of post-soviet Lithuania. Academic literature states that main agent of social exclusion is considered to be the society. Social exclusion of religion manifests in governmental and spatial spheres and on the individual level through religi...
The article contributes to the theoretical and empirical discussions about the social exclusion of religious minorities in contemporary Lithuania. It is based on the data of the empirical qualitative research – focus group and semi-structured interviews with members of religious minorities in Lithuania. The theoretical part of the article focuses o...
Straipsnyje analizuojama religinės įvairovės reprezentavimo Lietuvos internetinėje žiniasklaidoje problema. Pirmoje straipsnio dalyje aptariama žiniasklaidos įtaka viešosios nuomonės formavimo procese ir religinės įvairovės reprezentavimo problematika žiniasklaidoje. Antroje dalyje nagrinėjama Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios reprezentacija, įvairių kit...
Leidinyje „Religinių mažumų lygių galimybių užtikrinimas Lietuvoje: problemos ir rekomen- dacijos“ išsamiai aptariama religinių mažumų situacija šiuolaikinėje Lietuvoje. Pristatomi tei- sinės bazės analizės, Lietuvos gyventojų apklausos, religinių mažumų bendruomenių narių interviu bei žiniasklaidos turinio analizės duomenys ir jų interpretacija. L...
Mokslo studiją „Iššūkiai religinei įvairovei Lietuvoje: religinių mažumų perspektyva“ sudaro įvadas, penki skyriai ir išvados. Studijoje aptariama religinės įvairovės problema šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje, reiškinio apibrėžtis, pagrindiniai bruožai, priežastys ir iššūkiai religinei įvairovei šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje. Mokslo studija baigiama rekomenda...
The paper analyzes contemporary hinduism in Lithuania, the issues of its identification and definition, a variety of its forms and public attitudes towards it. The author argues that studies and research of “living hinduisms” in lithuania are under-developed because these groups distance themselves from the traditional religion and emphasize their...
Since the end of state repression against religion, two major processes have taken place in the formerly socialist countries: historically dominant churches strive to reassert their position in society, while new religious groups and ideas from various parts of the world are proliferating. This generates pluralism of religious communities and indiv...
The aim of this article is to describe the expression of the process of secularization on the institutional level in Lithuania. The article deals with Lithuanian Catholic Church's participation in public life of society and its change. It is based on the data of media text analysis of the largest Lithuanian newspapers from the period of 1990-2010....
The book is dedicated to discuss discrimination and equality issues of the various social groups in Lithuania.
This paper analyzes Peter Berger’s theory of secularization, its main arguments and recent developments in general described as the theory of desecularization. The first part of the text examines Berger’s theory of religion as the sacred canopy and seculari- zation as the process in which religious symbols and institutions loose their dominance in...
This paper analyzes the influence of modernization process for the individuals’ religion in Soviet and post-Soviet lithuania. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews with respondents who experienced their religious socialization during pre-Soviet and Soviet period reveals the peculiarities of their religious life. This article consists of se...
The article analyzes the place, change and variety of forms of manifestation of religion in the post-communist society of Lithuania. The three level – micro, mezzo and macro – of analytical perspective is invoked. Religious variety, le- gal conditions for freedom of religion and development of Church-State rela- tions are discussed. Particular atte...
Vilnius UniversityThe leader in any new religious group is a very important person and a key feature in the establishment of the organized religion. The special role and place for the leader is found in the so-called spiritual groups—the Neo-Hindu religious movements. Although such groups do not relate themselves to any religious phenomena in gener...
The article discusses the premises for the emergence of modern religion, its manifestation and peculiarities. The analysis of the ideas of the classics of sociology of religion such as robert Bellah and Thomas Luckmann and contemporary sociologists Grace Davie, Cose Casanova, Steve Bruce, Zygmunt Bauman, Paul Heelas and Ronald Inglehart leads autho...
Aptariama Lietuvos Gyvenimo meno draugija naujųjų religijų tyrimų kontekste. Lie-tuvos Gyvenimo meno draugija save pristato kaip siūlanti dvasinį tobulėjimą ir atmeta bet kurias sąsajas su religija. Tačiau straipsnio autorė, argumentuodama, kad eminis ir etinis religijos apibrėžimai gali skirtis ir dažniausiai skiriasi, šią organizaciją aptaria nau...
The article discusses the problem of the definition of religion in the contemporary discourse of new religious movements. Sometimes the latter groups deny their religious character and prefer to be called "spiritual" The author states that the emic definition of religion, which studies individuals and groups, might be different from the ethic, one...
Projects
Projects (10)
The main aim and objective of the Action is to produce knowledge, to exchange knowledge and to build capacity across Europe in the intersection of migration and religious diversity, with a particular emphasis on bottom-up research.
UniDiversity is a ground-breaking initiative aimed at making the academic environment more inclusive towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender & Intersex (LGBTI+) individuals by targeting discriminatory incidents based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender characteristics (SOGISC) and by training the whole academic community (permanent staff, researchers, students and other staff) in the use of inclusive language and behaviour as well as in conflict resolution, in order to identify, combat and ultimately prevent SOGISC based discrimination.
The overall objective is to promote diversity in the academic environment, ensuring equality of LGBTI+ individuals in universities in Greece, Lithuania and Italy, by tackling homophobia and transphobia in the university environment and discrimination based on SOGISC.
To investigate the role of religion on the implementation of gender equality and to reveal intra-religious and interreligious developments for sustaining or resisting gender equality in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Norway.
For more information visit project's website: religionandgender.eu
