OLDER WOMEN IN BULGARIA ADAPTING IN A CHANGING SOCIETY

The attitudes of older Bulgarian women toward the political and econom ic changes in their country after the overthrow of the Communist gover nment in 1989 are explored based largely on interviews by two well-kno wn Bulgarian gerontologists. The thinking and voting of these aged in the December 1994 elections that returned the Communists to power as t he Socialist Party is analyzed based upon the social change theory of Matilda W. Riley and the adaptation theory of Robert White. Despite th eir verbalized acceptance of the democratic and economic changes, elde rly Bulgarian women in large numbers were influenced nevertheless by t heir personal economic plight to vote for the Socialist Party.