Transition to adulthood in Georgia: Dynamics of generational and gender roles in post-totalitarian society Nana Sumbadze & George Tarkhan-Mouravi Tbilisi, 2003 INTRODUCTION During the past decade Georgia underwent drastic changes. The disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991 and subsequent establishment of independence in the South-Caucasian republic of Georgia was strongly linked with the population’s expectations of democratic development, prosperity and inclusion into global processes. However, it resulted in political instability leading to bloody ethno-territorial and civil wars, economic standstill, mass unemployment and impoverishment of population. Weakness of the state, mismanagement and lack of strategic thinking resulted in demolishing of the social security system and led to mass impoverishment. During these years the social stratification became more visible, partly due to increasing income gap between the new poor (more than a half of the population is considered to live below the poverty line) and the thin layer of the new rich who either used available financial and social resources to accumulate capital mainly through privatisation or trade, or acquired wealth through corruption. Another change is linked to the restructuring of political and economic system from Soviet centralized type to (embryonic) free market. Much of the new capital concentrates in the cities, while most of rural areas experience full economic stagnation, increasing another gap - between rural and urban population, giving rise to growing migration to the capital city and other bigger urban centres, but also to emigration to other countries. These “history-graded” changes and developments, along with the forces of globalisation, had immense impact on the lives of people. They got reflected in the societal and personal transformation, in changing human values, social support systems and relationships, first of all within family. There has been strong impact on the relationships between the generations and on gender relations, but also increased differences between different groups of the population, particularly in the sphere of values and political preferences. When a society and a culture undergo a paradigm shift, the new paradigms do not immediately replace the old ones as the dominant patterns of thinking and behaviour. Some traditional elements are losing their authority or relevance, while other elements retain their force. Such reconfiguration is an intrinsic part of more general process of social change, especially visible in a transitional setting such as in Georgia, and it affects