Living in the mobile world
Irena Emilija Juozeliūnienė, Irma Budginaitė‐Mačkinė · 2024
Following the reinstatement of Lithuania’s independence in 1990 and the country’s accession to the European Union in 2004, the transnational mobility of the Lithuanian population increased significantly. Life planning by those born between 1980 and 2000 unfolded within a radically different context from the Soviet environment that had shaped the daily life of their parents. Cross-border mobility presented new opportunities for business activities and professional careers, and it opened up a variety of possibilities for personal lives in an increasingly mobile world. Young people encountered migratory processes through the experiences of their parents, their relatives or their own travel abroad. The willing involvement of those born between 1980 and 2000 in migratory activities, however, gave rise to a degree of social anxiety in the media over the emigration flows of Lithuanian young people of working age. This led in turn to investigations into young people’s migration decisions, and their personal and intergenerational relationships developed in emigration through the lens of cross-border care and support. This chapter draws on the analysis of data from two representative (2013; 2018) surveys and one quota-based (2018) survey conducted in Lithuania as part of research projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania. The resulting statistical analysis enabled the authors to highlight the ways in which global migration affects the migration decisions of young people raised in independent Lithuania. By invoking the personal networks perspective, the study examined young people’s networks of significant persons and their support networks. Shifting the focus to the intergenerational solidarity perspective and extending to include relations with close kin, the authors identified examples of solidarity within and across generations.