Age was respected because it represented the accumulation of wisdom and experience. This greater wisdom and experience also gave the older members of the family authority over the younger ones. Children were highly valued as tokens of successful marriages and as economic assets, but they were not fussed over. Although they were expected to take their places as active members of the family at a relatively early age by performing light household tasks, running errands, and tending animals, they were also given considerable freedom to play. Until they reached maturity, children were expected to do what they were told by their parents or by other adults without question.
This traditional family system provided for great stability. Each member knew his place in society and knew what was expected of him, and he generally felt secure and satisfied.
The gradual industrialization and urbanization that took place between the two world wars slowly introduced changes into the traditional family system—at first among the urban population and eventually among the peasantry. Most notable among the changes was the shift toward the nuclear family unit and the disappearance of the extended family household. This reduced the authority of the father over his adult children, who now formed an independent economic and social unit. It also gave greater freedom to young people in choosing their mates and, thereby, in their relations with each other. Within the nuclear family the relationship between husband and wife became a more egalitarian one. Relations between parents and children also became less authoritarian, although the father's relations to his children continued to be rather formal.
The changes in family life and in the role of the family in society that began to take place between the two world wars accelerated during World War II in keeping with the rapid rate of economic change. The greatest assault on the traditional system, however, came in the second half of the 1940s and early 1950s when the new communist government set out to revamp Bulgarian society. The already dying patriarchal system was dealt its final blow with the elimination of inheritance through nationalization of industry and commerce and collectivization of agriculture. After the patrimony had been eliminated, a major incentive for submission to the patriarch had disappeared.
Another factor that contributed to the end of the patriarchal family and to the end of parental authoritarianism was the government's appeal to youth's desire for independence. Young people are taught to believe that they are the foundation of the new Bulgaria and that their elders' traditional ways are outmoded and should be discarded. In this way a generation gap has been created, and youths wanting to escape parental influence can count on the state for support. Their escape has been facilitated through the expansion of educational facilities, the expansion of employment opportunities resulting from economic and bureaucratic expansion, and by the many youth organizations and youth activities—all of which enable young people to spend much time away from home and act independently of their parents.
The role of women, which had begun to change in the 1930s, was greatly altered under the influence of ideology and of economic realities. In social doctrine and law, women are considered equal to men and are continually urged to demand their rights in the home and in the community. They have also gained considerable independence of movement through the expanded employment opportunities available to them in a developing economy. In 1968, 80 percent of employable women worked outside the home. A large percentage of them worked because of the necessity to supplement the family income rather than through choice; nevertheless, the fact that they do work outside the home has altered the pattern of family life and the relationships of family members. Working mothers must leave their young children in state-operated nurseries or with relatives and thereby relinquish much of their influence in molding the children into adults. Evidence indicates that few mothers like to leave young children in nurseries, preferring to leave them in the care of trusted relatives or friends. Fathers appear to be playing a greater role in the raising of children than they did in the traditional family.
Housekeeping is still considered to be entirely or predominantly the responsibility of women, whether they work or not. The working woman spends much time every day after work standing in line at food markets and other stores, buying the daily necessities. Household appliances and convenience foods are scarce luxuries; therefore, housekeeping is a time-consuming and tiring activity. Even peasant women must take care of their households and children after putting in the required hours in cooperative labor, whereas formerly they could fit their field work in and around their other responsibilities.
As a consequence of these changes, the traditional roles of family members have been altered. The dominance of the head of the family has given way to a greater distribution of decisionmaking and a greater independence on the part of other family members. As family members spend less time together, the emphasis in daily life is shifted from the family to the outside world. Persons come to be looked at more as individuals than as members of a certain family. Individuality and personal achievement become as important as family background in determining the status of an individual and his nuclear family. Similarly, individual action or personal status no longer reflects on the larger family.
In the eyes of the state, marriage is a secular matter governed by civil law. Religious ceremonies are permitted but must be preceded by a civil marriage. The minimum age for marriage without parental consent or special permission from the local authorities is eighteen for both men and women. The urban marriage rate in the 1960s was considerably higher than the rural one, reflecting the higher percentage of young people living in urban centers. Men generally marry between twenty and thirty years of age, and women, between fifteen and twenty-five. The law assigns equal rights and obligations to both partners in a marriage. Divorce is relatively easy to obtain and no longer carries the social stigma of former times; the divorce rate in the early 1970s was average for Eastern Europe.
Despite changing patterns of family life, most observers find that the cohesive force of the extended family continues to be a factor in contemporary society. In many cases the cohesiveness is perpetuated or even strengthened by modern phenomena, such as the chronic housing shortage and the need for grandparents or other relatives to care for the children of working mothers. The housing shortage has revived the traditional system of several generations of a family sharing the same roof. The pressures of change and the burdens of daily life hold families together, and the traditional sense of family loyalty also seems to survive. Members of such extended families assist each other in finding employment, in gaining admission to special schools, or in obtaining scarce items of food or clothing.