Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses how identities of business elites in Lithuania are constructed in between the dominant orientation of Lithuanian society towards the West, the public images of an 'European person' and transnational economic activities which go beyond national and European borders.

Paper long abstract:

My paper is based on results of my field work on lifestyles and identity models of the business elites in Lithuania. The career and life strategies of the business elites are currently being reorganised and adopted to the new political, social and economic situation of Lithuania as EU-member state. On the one hand, the dominant social and political orientation of the Lithuanian society toward Europe and the West excludes other possibilities for orientation and identification. On the other hand, the capability to develop activities in both directions (West and East) seems to be necessary in order to assure the achievement of the social elite status within Lithuania and Europe. The main interest of my paper is in making suggestions with regard to the question how identities of bussiness elites are constructed inbetween the local images of an 'European person' and transnational economic activities, which exceed the national and European borders.