Семейният и роднински конфликт в малкия град и ролята на жената в постсоциалистическото общество
Family and Kinship Conflict in a Small Town and Woman’s Role in the Post-Socialist Society

Summary/Abstract: The investigation dwells on part of the family and kinship conflicts observed in the last decade of the 20th century in two small towns in the Rhodope Mountains (Devin and Yakoruda), located in similar regions of Bulgaria in terms of geography and typology. Conflicts among relatives, associated with real estate disputes, have been stepped up by the restitution bills that have been enacted since 1990. The underlying causes for them are sought in the incongruence of the present-day legislation with the traditional and customary system of inheritance. Other conflicts are associated with the evolution of the new economic relations (e.g. of family business), as well as with the name of a newborn child. Still viable in the two towns is the family trend in name-giving and naming after the grandmother and the grandfather (usually the husband’s parents) directly related with it, which is also sometimes a prerequisite for rendering material assistance to the new family. The family and kinship conflicts and the name of the child are interrelated. On the one hand are the kinship quarrels concerning the name of the child. On the other, contradictions between close relatives most often reflect on the name chosen for the child. The second part of the investigation discusses the reflection of the economic hardships in Bulgaria after 1990 on the marital roles of man and woman in the family. The conclusion has been drawn that in the small towns the husband often fails in the performance of his priority economic role and therefore becomes low-spirited, passive, and even falls in depression, accompanied by alcohol abuse and home violence. On the contrary, in quite a few cases the woman (wife or divorsed) plays a leading, active role in the marriage and the family, i.e. she is the economic and moral mainstay of the family in the hard period of transition.

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