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VALUE ORIENTATIONS OF THE BULGARIAN CULTURE WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

M. Garvanova

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union – EU (01.01.2007 – 01.01.2017) and the 60th anniversary of its creation (25.03.1957 – 25.03.2017). The aim of the study is to compare the Bulgarian cultural model with that of the EU member states and to outline the value similarities and differences among them. On the basis of the method for diagnostics of cultural value orientations proposed by Schwartz [8] it can be established that while the cultural value ideal of Bulgarians is unique, it is nonetheless close to that in some post-communist countries with its high level of embeddedness, hierarchy and mastery, defining the catching-up role of the national culture versus the European values and practices oriented towards autonomy, egalitarianism and harmony. However, the analysis of the value hierarchy reveals that value priorities in Bulgaria such as intellectual autonomy, harmony and egalitarianism are comparable to the commonly shared attitudes and stereotypes in the EU members, which proves that the country belongs to the European civilization family.

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