Vytautas Kavolis (1930–1996) was a sociologist and cultural critic. He fled from Lithuania with his parents in 1944, at the close of the Second World War. He completed secondary school in Germany and in 1950 moved to the United States, where he studied sociology and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University. He was a long-time professor of sociology and comparative civilisation at Dickinson College. He became the editor of "Comparative Civilisations Review" in 1978 and was a contributor to "Encyclopaedia Britannica". Kavolis was one of the cultivators of Lithuanian liberal thought in exile; he was one of the founders and directors of the Santara-Šviesa federation of intellectuals, and an organiser and editor of the cultural journal "Metmenys" as well as the author of many works in English and Lithuanian. He began travelling to Lithuania in 1992, giving lectures at universities in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda. His interdisciplinary studies were a significant influence on the young generation of liberal arts academics. He was awarded the National Culture and Art Prize in 1993 for The Trajectories of Consciousness (1986) and Signatures of Epochs (1991). Kavolis died in Vilnius, where he is also buried.
Vytautas Kavolis (1930–1996) was a sociologist and cultural critic. He fled from Lithuania with his parents in 1944, at the close of the Second World War. He completed secondary school in Germany and in 1950 moved to the United States, where he studied sociology and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University. He was a long-time professor of sociology and comparative civilisation at Dickinson College. He became the editor of "Comparative Civilisations Review" in 1978 and was a contributor to "Encyclopaedia Britannica". Kavolis was one of the cultivators of Lithuanian liberal thought in exile; he was one of the founders and directors of the Santara-Šviesa federation of intellectuals, and an organiser and editor of the cultural journal "Metmenys" as well as the author of many works in English and Lithuanian. He began travelling to Lithuania in 1992, giving lectures at universities in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda. His interdisciplinary studies were a significant influence on the young generation of liberal arts academics. He was awarded the National Culture and Art Prize in 1993 for The Trajectories of Consciousness (1986) and Signatures of Epochs (1991).
