Lithuania between East and West: Longitudinal Research on Households of Pivasiunai Parish

Dovile Bugiene , Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences

The presentation introduces a longitudinal study of 19th century families and households in the parish of Pivašiunai, representing the southeastern part of present-day Lithuania, which was in the Vilnius Governorate during the period under review. John Hajnal's theoretical framework of household and family models, which has long been the main theoretical model in historical family demography, has been criticized, and there is still a matter of debate, with no consensus reached. Studies show that there were different systems on both sides of the Hajnal line. Both Hajnal himself and later research show that the territory of Lithuania can be classified as a transitional zone. Historical households in European countries have been studied extensively, but little data has been collected on the Baltic region. The main findings of this research complement the existing research field and provide information on one small area in Eastern Europe that is relevant to this large theoretical discussion of historical demography. The main research questions: which family and household types characterized Pivašiunai parish and how nineteenth-century changes in land tenure, from the abolition of serfdom to small-scale ownership, shaped family and household structures. Covering 1835–1910 period, the research is based on an original database created by the author from parishioners’ lists. Following Peter Laslett’s methodology, households are classified as nuclear, extended, or multiple families. Preliminary results show that nuclear families comprised over one-third of households, while extended families were not predominant. A decline in household size is evident, associated with emancipation and changes in land tenure.

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 Presented in Session P8. Demographic Trends, History, Data and Methods