Article(s) on youth from the 'forgotten' classes
Published on
Today I've read an , a former consultant for the previous government and PM on social dialogue and labour unions. He raises the issue of young people who have grown up in soviet blocks of flats, with no prospect of feeling at home in other parts of their city.
Most of the rich people have used every chance to move away from these blocks (it has to be reminded though that many students and intellectuals live in them, because this is what they can afford), and, in the context of the recent riots, where many of such youngsters are said to have participated, the author claims that this urban 'lower class', defined in terms of specific 'dress code', slang and behaviour (also, a considerable part of it, according to the author, is Russian- or Polish-speaking) has advanced towards the centre and engaged in a clash with what represents the high-class Vilnius.
An interesting perspective within the recent public discourse, I like it because it hightlights the fact that the cleavages in the society, which have catalysed the riots, are not ethnic or educational, but social and even spacial (which, however, would be too strong a statement). On this topic I know a (in Lithuanian only, unfortunately) by my favourite Lithuanian sociologist Rasa Baločkaitė. If you can read in Lithuanian, check it out :)One friend of mine has recently commented on my blog: more positive attitude would be very welcome. I'll have it in mind and believe me, as soon as I come across something positive, I will post it immediately.