Balts hold different values

TALLINN - The values of residents of the Baltic states differ widely from place to place, with the gap being the widest between Estonians and Lithuanians, sociological research in the three countries shows.

It appears from the survey by the RISC polling company that while the Baltic nations have many similar values inherited from decades of a common regime, the gap between Latvians and local Russians is less extreme than that between Lithuanians and Estonians, sociologist Ulle Parnoja of the Emor polling agency wrote in the daily Eesti Paevaleht on July 17.

"Estonians are really open to new ideas and thoughts, but on the other hand are individualists for whom personal well-being is a top priority," Parnoja said about the results of the survey. "Latvians and in particular Lithuanians are at the same time much more socially oriented and have a more collective approach to life."

Estonians attach importance to association with small groups to gain social capital and value people by what they have achieved, the study showed. Lithuanians, on the other hand, search for a deeper meaning in life, care about other people's opinions and link the past and the present to the future.

"Estonians take a short-term view of themselves and everything around them, while Latvians and especially Lithuanians have a long-term perspective. So for us the joys and worries of today are important, but we don't bother to give much thought to the coming years," the sociologist writes.

"Lithuanians, on the contrary, are very conscious of their history and perhaps because of that see themselves as just one link in the chain of generations – what they're doing today lays the groundwork of future generations' welfare."

Judging by values, success surpassing Estonia's in quite a few spheres in the coming years could be predicted for Lithuania and Latvia, Parnoja observes.

"Estonians' priority is to achieve a great deal quickly in some selected fields and this is reaping us fame and honor in comparison with other countries," the sociologist writes. "At the same time stratification in society as a whole is growing, because the choices we have made are of benefit to a relatively narrow stratum of society."