Nationalism and Declining Population in Bulgaria after 1990

Dieser Beitrag liegt nur in englischer Sprache vor.This paper aims to illuminate and provide a critical assessment of the nationalist discourse on declining population in Bulgaria. Nationalist discourse is one of the mainstream approaches in Bulgaria and is widely spread through mass media having been voiced by renowned intellectuals, policy experts, scholars and media celebrities. It can be recognised in the political programmes of left-wing and nationalist parties, but also in governmental documents at both national as well as regional levels. The nationalistically oriented advocates articulate current concerns regarding the declining birth rates and declining population in the country labelling the demographic situation as “Bulgarian national catastrophe” and “Bulgaria’s collapse”. They place an emphasis on the decreasing proportion of ethnic Bulgarians and the growth of the ethnic minorities, especially Roma. The latter trend was labelled by the derogatory term “gypsyisation”, i.e. a distortion of the Bulgarian nation and shrinkage of its core ethnicity – ethnic Bulgarians. The threat of the “gypsyisation” of the Bulgarian nation has not only been viewed in quantitative terms, but also through the lens of an alleged worsening of the national human capital (e.g. level of education, professional skills and civic culture of the population). Another set of arguments exploited in the nationalist discourse is the diminishing size of the Bulgarian nation as a threat to national sovereignty, territorial unity and economic stability. We use a qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis of media textual materials in order to reconstruct the main ideas, arguments and strategies of the proponents of the nationalist discourse regarding the consequences of the declining population in Bulgaria, its social policy implications and future demographic prospects.This paper aims to illuminate and provide a critical assessment of the nationalist discourse on declining population in Bulgaria. Nationalist discourse is one of the mainstream approaches in Bulgaria and is widely spread through mass media having been voiced by renowned intellectuals, policy experts, scholars and media celebrities. It can be recognised in the political programmes of left-wing and nationalist parties, but also in governmental documents at both national as well as regional levels. The nationalistically oriented advocates articulate current concerns regarding the declining birth rates and declining population in the country labelling the demographic situation as “Bulgarian national catastrophe” and “Bulgaria’s collapse”. They place an emphasis on the decreasing proportion of ethnic Bulgarians and the growth of the ethnic minorities, especially Roma. The latter trend was labelled by the derogatory term “gypsyisation”, i.e. a distortion of the Bulgarian nation and shrinkage of its core ethnicity – ethnic Bulgarians. The threat of the “gypsyisation” of the Bulgarian nation has not only been viewed in quantitative terms, but also through the lens of an alleged worsening of the national human capital (e.g. level of education, professional skills and civic culture of the population). Another set of arguments exploited in the nationalist discourse is the diminishing size of the Bulgarian nation as a threat to national sovereignty, territorial unity and economic stability. We use a qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis of media textual materials in order to reconstruct the main ideas, arguments and strategies of the proponents of the nationalist discourse regarding the consequences of the declining population in Bulgaria, its social policy implications and future demographic prospects

Contested Parenthood: Attitudes Toward Voluntary Childlessness as a Life Strategy in Post‐Socialist Bulgaria

The article focuses on the social differences in the attitudes toward female and male voluntary childlessness in Bulgaria and their dynamics over time. The analysis is based on data from the European Social Survey conducted in 2006 and 2018 in Bulgaria. By the means of multinomial logistic regression, we test the effect of the period, gender, age, marital status, number of children, education, employment, minority status, and religiosity on attitudes toward childlessness. The results reveal a decrease in negative attitudes and a strong increase of neutral stances. However, higher age of respondents is still associated with an increase in negative attitudes toward voluntary childlessness rather than neutrality. Women are significantly more likely to accept voluntary childlessness than to be neutral compared to men. Respondents who are married, parents, lowly educated, jobless or economically inactive, people belonging to ethnic minority groups, and highly religious people are more likely to disapprove of voluntary childlessness. Perceptions on female or male voluntary childlessness are significantly correlated with attitudes toward extramarital fertility, cohabitation, divorces when children are under twelve years old, and full‐time female employment when children are below the age of three. The analysis of variance reveals that the individuals who accept or are neutral to voluntary childlessness have stronger non‐conformist attitudes emphasizing self‐expression, the idea of "having a good time," and rejection of traditional authorities compared to the respondents with negative attitudes

The contextual database of the generations and gender program in Bulgaria: conceptual framework and an overview of the Bulgarian context concerning the central database topics

This paper outlines the concept and content of the Contextual Database of the international Generations and Gender Program and gives an overview of the context of demographic behavior in Bulgaria. The Contextual Database provides an instrument that together with the Generations and Gender Survey allows studying how differences in context shape demographic processes. The database offers the opportunity to analyze in a comparative way the interaction between the micro and macro dimension. Bulgaria is among the first countries fielding the Generations and Gender Survey and that is engaged in contextual data collection within this comparative framework. While both micro- and contextual data for Bulgaria will become available in the course of the year 2005, we present in this paper a text contribution that provides an overview of the Bulgarian context and introduces the list of variables that make up the database.Bulgaria, data collection

FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES FOR VULNERABLE FAMILIES IN BULGARIA: BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES

Family support services are of crucial importance for families from vulnerable groups in order to ensure their normal access to the educational, health and social systems and to protect the child’s best interest in parenting. The aim of this paper is to review the key challenges in effectively delivering family services to vulnerable families in Bulgaria through a discussion of the main barriers and facilitators in family support provision. The analysis is based on the data from a small-scale survey including online survey with 40 organizations providers of family services; interviews with 15 professionals working in these organizations and a group discussion with the services providers from the Community Center for Early Childhood Development and Parental Support "Nadezhda" in the city of Burgas, Bulgaria. The main difficulties that the professionals came across in their work concerned convincing families to use the services, overcoming parents’ unwillingness to cooperate with professionals and denying or neglecting the child’s problem and handling the discrepancy between user's expectations and delivered services. The survey data also outlined the proactive solutions and the directions for improvement in the quality of services: development of interaction and partnership with families from vulnerable groups; networking with other institutions and organizations to provide non-fragmented services; increasing the number of educational and health mediators that will increase parents’ motivation and encourage services take-up; providing integrated services in the community through mobile groups and fieldwork; overcoming prejudices and discriminative attitudes toward marginalized groups and raising the level of awareness of families toward delivered services and their effects on child’s wellbeing

The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

The Impact of Gender on Mid-Career Labour Income: The Case of Bulgaria

The impact assessment of education and gender on mid-career labour income in a transitional economy could provide for better understanding of the influence of the labour market dynamics over individuals with different characteristics. Here, we attempt to find an answer to the question: How education and gender determine mid-career labour income? We estimate the returns to education depending on gender using Mincerian equations and regressions. The data set we use is from the Structure of Earnings Survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute in 2002 and 2006. The analysis covers over 130,000 employees between 35 and 49 years old. The impact assessment allows conclusions about the wage gap between men and women, working in different economic sectors incl. the division of public and private sector, services and industry. The access to managerial position and gender differences in the type of the labour contract have been investigated for their contribution to the persistence of a gender pay gap among the individuals with a tertiary education

Marginality and Integrity: Constructing of Gender Identities in the Post-Communist Bulgaria

Ms. Kotzeva's team aimed to reveal the formation of the new gender identities in the transitional society of Bulgaria since 1989. Their main conclusions (presented in a series of manuscripts written in Bulgarian and German, and also on disc) were reached on the basis of data obtained from a field survey involving a group of 190 women, and interviews conducted with a group of Bulgarian women politicians. Although approving of gender equality and the ideology of emancipation on an abstract level, women predominantly identify themselves with mothering and caring for the family. At the same time they do not fully surrender to their family obligations and support a strategy of balancing between family and extra-family activities. Bulgarian women are highly frustrated by the new requirements of the labour market, insecurity, and lack of safety in their personal life. Ms. Kotzeva and her team observed a high degree of convergence of self-identification strategies amongst Bulgarian women from different generations and educational backgrounds. On the other hand, women from the ethnic minorities, especially Gypsy women, demonstrate radically divergent styles of orientation and behaviour. Women's marginalisation due to the altering economic and political circumstances in Bulgaria, and the decline of female participation in Parliament, have clearly shown that the end of socialist women's politics must lead to critical reflection and the development of new strategies in order to enable women to take part in the process of a new elite in Bulgaria

Nationalism and declining population in Bulgaria after 1990

"This paper aims to illuminate and provide a critical assessment of the nationalist discourse on declining population in Bulgaria. Nationalist discourse is one of the mainstream approaches in Bulgaria and is widely spread through mass media having been voiced by renowned intellectuals, policy experts, scholars and media celebrities. It can be recognised in the political programmes of left-wing and nationalist parties, but also in governmental documents at both national as well as regional levels. The nationalistically oriented advocates articulate current concerns regarding the declining birth rates and declining population in the country labelling the demographic situation as 'Bulgarian national catastrophe' and 'Bulgaria's collapse'. They place an emphasis on the decreasing proportion of ethnic Bulgarians and the growth of the ethnic minorities, especially Roma. The latter trend was labelled by the derogatory term 'gypsyisation', i.e. a distortion of the Bulgarian nation and shrinkage of its core ethnicity - ethnic Bulgarians. The threat of the 'gypsyisation' of the Bulgarian nation has not only been viewed in quantitative terms, but also through the lens of an alleged worsening of the national human capital (e.g. level of education, professional skills and civic culture of the population). Another set of arguments exploited in the nationalist discourse is the diminishing size of the Bulgarian nation as a threat to national sovereignty, territorial unity and economic stability. We use a qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis of media textual materials in order to reconstruct the main ideas, arguments and strategies of the proponents of the nationalist discourse regarding the consequences of the declining population in Bulgaria, its social policy implications and future demographic prospects." (author's abstract

The contextual database of the generations and gender program in Bulgaria: conceptual framework and an overview of the Bulgarian context concerning the central database topics

This paper outlines the concept and content of the Contextual Database of the international Generations and Gender Program and gives an overview of the context of demographic behavior in Bulgaria. The Contextual Database provides an instrument that together with the Generations and Gender Survey allows studying how differences in context shape demographic processes. The database offers the opportunity to analyze in a comparative way the interaction between the micro and macro dimension. Bulgaria is among the first countries fielding the Generations and Gender Survey and that is engaged in contextual data collection within this comparative framework. While both micro- and contextual data for Bulgaria will become available in the course of the year 2005, we present in this paper a text contribution that provides an overview of the Bulgarian context and introduces the list of variables that make up the database