The role of family social capital in young people’s transition from school to work in Bulgaria

Abstract

Large-scale surveys rate Bulgaria and the whole of South-East Europe as societies poor in both formal and informal social capital. At the same time studies show that families in the region remain closely knit and norms of reciprocity, empathy and support among members of extended families are valued highly. To throw light upon this contradiction the paper presents results from a qualitative research into family support for youth transitions from school to work in Bulgaria conducted in 2002-2003. It uses of data from in-depth interviews with 46 young people one year after graduation from school or university and 34 of their parents. The paper analyses in more detail three case studies representing different patterns of family support. The role of the family remains important under post-communism when it acts as a network for its members and with the access to other social networks external to the family.

Keywords

• family
• network
• social capital
• youth transitions
• support