Work Flexibilisation and its Impact on Family Relationship in Bulgaria
Work Flexibilisation and its Impact on Family Relationship in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: Flexibilisation of work is one of the major social trends in the process of globalisation. Various patterns of flexible labour are found at the core and the margins of global economy, providing better opportunities for independent and self-fulfilling life, as well as greater risks for precariousness and impoverishment. While in the West part-time work has become the dominant form of flexible work, in post-communist countries informalisation of labour is the norm. Flexible employment in Bulgaria develops in line with the general social liberalisation resulting in less formal regulation, more insecurity and greater diversity of work. While there is a great multiplicity of emerging forms and revived traditions, this paper focuses on three main aspects of work restructuring in the country: flexibility of time, place and conditions. How does this trend affect family relationships? In what ways do family members of different generations and genders combine paid and unpaid work, both outside and within the home? This paper is an attempt to answer those questions in the context of post-communist Bulgaria on the basis of a representative survey, carried out in 2001.

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