The origins of the Sociology Institute at the Lithuanian Social Research Centre (LSMC) date back to 1964, when the Sector of Sociology and Law was established at the Institute of Economics of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences. In 1969, it was split into two separate sectors of Sociology and Law, which were then incorporated into the Department of Philosophy, Law, and Sociology under the Institute of History. In 1974, a Laboratory of Sociological Research was established alongside the Sociology Sector.
In 1977, the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology, and Law of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences was founded based on the aforementioned department. That same year, the Department of Sociology of Youth began operating alongside the Department of Sociology and the Laboratory of Sociological Research. In 1989, the Public Opinion Research Centre was established. Following the restoration of Lithuania’s independence in 1991, the academy shed its ministerial characteristics and was declared an independent academy, and its constituent scientific institutions—including the Lithuanian Institute of Philosophy and Sociology—became independent scientific institutions.
In 1992, the Department of Sociology of Youth was reorganized into the Departments of Stratification and Ethnosociology. That same year, the Demographic Research Centre moved from the Institute of Economics to the Lithuanian Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. In 2002, the Lithuanian Institute of Philosophy and Sociology was reorganized into the Institute for Social Research, and in 2010, the latter was reformed into the Lithuanian Social Research Centre, which included institutes for Sociology, Ethnic Studies, Human Geography and Demography, Social Welfare, and Labour Market Research. Following a reorganization in 2021, the Lithuanian Social Research Centre became a branch of the newly formed Lithuanian Social Sciences Centre (LSMC) and was renamed the Institute of Sociology.
Head of the LSMC Institute of Sociology: Dr. Andrius Marcinkevičius.
Former long-term leaders: Prof. Habil. Dr. Arvydas Matulionis, later Prof. Habil. Dr. Meilutė Taljūnaitė, Prof. Dr. Sarmitė Mikulionienė, and Prof. Dr. Boguslavas Gruževskis.
Mission: Based on the unity of fundamental and applied research, the Institute analyzes social, economic, political, and demographic processes to seek solutions based on new scientific knowledge; cooperates closely with the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, public, scientific, and study institutions, and social partners in Lithuania and abroad; and contributes through research to the justification and impact assessment of public policy goals and measures, thereby strengthening the cohesion between science and society.
The LSMC Institute of Sociology includes 5 departments:
Department of Employment and Social Welfare Research (Head: Dr. Inga Blažienė)
Department of Demographic and Family Research (Head: Habil. Dr. Aušra Maslauskaitė)
Department of Ethnic Studies (Head: Dr. Monika Frėjutė-Rakauskienė)
Department of Regional and Urban Research (Head: Dr. Donatas Burneika)
Department of Social Change Research (Head: Dr. Diana Janušauskienė)
Sociology Doctoral Program:
The LSMC implements a joint doctoral program in Sociology in partnership with Vytautas Magnus University and Kaunas University of Technology.
The Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, was established in 1989 following the restoration of the Faculty of Philosophy. Its predecessor was the Sociology Laboratory, which had operated at Vilnius University since 1973. The first head of the department was Habil. Dr. Arvydas Matulionis. Later, the department was led by Dr. Rasa Ališauskienė, Dr. Irena Eglė Laumenskaitė, Dr. Vida Kanopienė, and Dr. Arūnas Poviliūnas. In 1996, the Department of Social Theory was established within the Faculty of Philosophy (led by Dr. Aleksandras Dobryninas), which merged with the Department of Sociology in 2002. Since 2018, the department has operated as a unit of the Institute of Sociology and Social Work.
Head of the Department: Prof. Habil. Dr. Zenonas Norkus.
Mission: To ensure the innovative continuity of the research and study tradition of sociology as an independent and indispensable social science discipline in Lithuania.
Directions of Activity:
Coordinating research by department scientists in the fields of science and education, politics, family, life course, urban sociology, and historical comparative sociology.
Collaborating with study program committees to ensure the implementation of bachelor’s and master’s sociology study programs.
Participating in the implementation of doctoral studies and research in sociology in collaboration with the Doctoral Committee for Sociology and other units of the Institute of Sociology and Social Work.
Co-publishing the journal Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas (Sociology. Thought and Action) with sociologists from Klaipėda University.
The Department of Criminology at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, was established in 2018. Its predecessor was the Centre for Criminological Studies, which operated at Vilnius University from 2008 to 2017.
Head of the Department: Prof. Dr. Aleksandras Dobryninas.
Directions of Activity: The Department of Criminology seeks to initiate and coordinate contemporary criminological research and ensure the integration of interdisciplinary criminological knowledge into practical application, teaching, and research. Criminological research is focused on the analysis of contemporary criminological discourses and aspects of their practical implementation, emphasizing innovative research methods and ethical principles. This research field includes topics such as theoretical aspects of deviance and social control, philosophical and sociological problems of criminal justice, policy of punishment and reintegration, juvenile delinquency, urban security issues, media and crime, violence and its reception in society, prevention and control of corporate crime and corruption, and methodological innovations in criminology (narrative analysis, visual methods, big data and text analysis, etc.).
The Department of Social Policy at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, has operated as a unit of the Institute of Sociology and Social Work since 2018.
Head of the Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Daiva Skučienė.
Directions of Activity: Members of the Department of Social Policy conduct scientific and applied research in the fields of social policy and social welfare. They provide expert consultations and insights to policymakers and institutions implementing social policy. Members participate in international social policy research networks and disseminate research results at international and national conferences.
The Department of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, continues the activities of the Department of Social Work established in 1992 by conducting research in the field of social work, promoting the dissemination of social work research through the STEPP academic journal, and coordinating the implementation of social work study programs.
Head of the Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Donata Petružytė.
Research Areas: Development of the social work profession; social challenges changing in the context of globalization, as well as strategies and methods of social work; transformations of social service systems and organizational models; human rights, social exclusion of vulnerable groups, discrimination, and issues of their integration and empowerment in contemporary society; social innovation.
Social Work Study Programs: Social Work (Bachelor’s and Master’s). Vilnius University was the first in Lithuania to develop and begin implementing social work study programs in 1992. Department scientists actively participate in the sociology doctoral process by proposing relevant research topics and supervising doctoral students.
The Department of Political Behavior and Institutions at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, develops political sociology and conducts sociological research. The department performs empirical research on post-Soviet countries, focusing primarily on the analysis of Lithuanian society and political institutions. The department employs researchers with complementary specializations (comparative politics, political sociology, political psychology, political communication, philosophy and methodology of social sciences) and maintains a large database of quantitative and qualitative research.
Head of the Department: Prof. Dr. Ainė Ramonaitė.
The Centre for (Post)Soviet Memory Studies at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University, aims to collect, preserve, and analyze testimonies from contemporaries about the Soviet period, the period of the National Rebirth (Atgimimas), and the era of transformation, as well as to accumulate and share methodological experience and skills in oral history and memory studies. Researchers and students from the Institute and other institutions participate in the Centre’s activities. Established in 2019, its researchers began their work in 2009. During this time, the Centre has accumulated an archive of more than 600 oral history interviews, including interviews with creators of the Sąjūdį in the capital and other parts of Lithuania, participants in underground and alternative movements during the Soviet era, and other residents of various Lithuanian regions revealing their experiences during the Soviet years and the transformation period.
Head of the Centre: Prof. Dr. Ainė Ramonaitė.
The Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) was established in 1989. It formed concurrently with the re-establishment of VMU and inherited much from the Lithuanian diaspora professors who actively participated in this process. To this day, the department is highly oriented toward maintaining active international and national scientific networks. In the last decade, the department has implemented over 20 scientific projects, including prestigious projects from the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Baltic Research Programme, and COST network projects. The department also develops scientific directions and competencies in social anthropology and social demography.
The Head of the Department is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė.
Research Areas:
Sociology of health; social inequality and social policy; sociology of family, gender, and sexuality; political sociology; sociology of religion; social, cultural, and national identity; transnationalism and diaspora identity; sociology of migration; social demography.
Facebook: VDU Sociologija ir Antropologija / VMU Sociology and Anthropology
The department operates 3 research centers:
Centre for Demographic Research
Centre for Social Research
Centre for Social Anthropology
At Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), sociological research began in 1967 with the establishment of the Sociology Laboratory, and from 1999 to 2013, the Department of Sociology was in operation. Since 2014, sociology studies have been conducted within the Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, which houses the Data Analysis and Archiving Centre (KTU DAtA Centre).
The KTU DAtA Centre organizes methodological seminars, distance learning courses, and international data analysis workshops. It oversees the data stored in the Lithuanian Data Archive for Social Sciences and Humanities (LiDA), ensuring that the Lithuanian social science community has access to international and national data resources. Between 2020 and 2022, access to these datasets was transitioned to the Dataverse repository.
LiDA stores data from the most significant international scientific research conducted in Europe, including:
European Social Survey (ESS)
European Values Study (EVS)
Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
Additionally, LiDA collects data from significant national surveys and historical statistics of the Baltic States. The KTU DAtA Centre also operates a Survey Laboratory, a Social Media Lab, and a Methods School. In partnership with Vytautas Magnus University, it implements the European Social Survey (ESS-ERIC) and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).
The Head of the Data Analysis and Archiving Centre is Prof. Dr. Audronė Telešienė.
Scientific activity is carried out by the research group “Civil Society and Sustainable Development,” where the principal investigator is Dr. Aistė Balžekienė.
In 2015, during an organizational restructuring at Klaipėda University, the Department of Sociology was abolished, and the Centre for Studies of Social Change (CSSC) was established in its place. The structural reform aimed to strengthen social research and more actively mobilize individual scientists for joint scientific projects. The core of the CSSC researchers consists of sociologists Dr. Arūnas Acus (area of interest – crime), Dr. Aldis Gedutis (sociology and philosophy of science), Dr. Liutauras Kraniauskas (urban culture, subculture studies), Dr. Sigita Kraniauskienė (sociology of generations and life course), and Dr. Jolita Viluckienė (sociology of disability).
The Head of the Centre for Studies of Social Change is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Liutauras Kraniauskas.
Areas of Activity:
The most important research areas of the CSSC are long-term social change, cultural processes, and social development issues, with a distinct focus on urban and city identity processes in Klaipėda, issues of post-Soviet society, and discursive forms of scientific knowledge. Together with the Lithuanian Sociological Association and the Institute of Sociology and Social Work of Vilnius University, the CSSC publishes the scientific journal Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas (Sociology. Thought and Action).
Facebook: Socialinių pokyčių studijų centras / Centre for Studies of Social Change
The Department of Creative Communication at the Faculty of Creative Industries at Vilnius Tech oversees the teaching of sociology. The sociology course is taught as a compulsory subject in some programs (e.g., Creative Industries, Entertainment Industries) and as an elective in others.
The research interests of the sociologists working in the department include social research methodology, intergenerational relations, youth integration, social cohesion, and communication in a networked society.
The head of the department is Dr. Elena Kocai.
Urban sociology and cultural sociology are developed within the Department of Entertainment Industries.
The Laboratory of Sociological Research operates at Mykolas Romeris University.
The laboratory’s research areas include: social welfare and its policy, population and demographic behavior research, late modernity society and change, capitals and identities, and the methodology and methods of sociological research.
The head of the laboratory is Dr. Vida Česnuitytė.
The Department of Bioethics operates within the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. The department was formed in 1963 with the institutionalization of philosophy and social science teaching and research at the then-Kaunas Medical Institute. In 1990, as the department became the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, a new direction of activity emerged: the humanitarization of medical studies. New subjects were developed and began to be taught, among which was medical sociology. Between 2011 and 2017, the department transformed into the Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences, which was led by sociologist Prof. Dr. L. Rinkevičius. In 2018, the department transformed into the Department of Bioethics.