HOME CULTURES DOI 10.2752/175174210X12663437526214 197 HOME CULTURES 197 REPRINTS AVAILABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHERS PHOTOCOPYING PERMITTED BY LICENSE ONLY © BERG 2010 PRINTED IN THE UK VOLUME 7, ISSUE 2 PP 197–216 DOBRINKA PARUSHEVA and ILIYANA MARCHEVA HOUSING IN SOCIALIST BULGARIA: APPROPRIATING TRADITION ABSTRACT The analysis of how Bulgaria coped with socialist modernization in the field of housing takes the concept of “consumption regime” as its point of departure. Applying the lens of “regulated consumption” (as opposed to a laissez- faire regime) allows a differentiation between state care and state control. Bulgarian housing policy relied on the notion of the state as the main actor. The article argues that this state did not contradict traditional values in Bulgarian society but made concerted efforts to meet the essential wishes of the people for their own home. During the late 1940s and 1950s this tradition was reflected in the way construction was organized as well as in DOBRINKA PARUSHEVA, PHD, IS A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT THE INSTITUTE OF BALKAN STUDIES IN SOFIA. HER MAIN FIELD OF INTEREST IS SOCIAL HISTORY OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPE IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. ILIYANA MARCHEVA, PHD, IS A SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT THE INSTITUTE OF HISTORY, THE BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN SOFIA, BULGARIA. SHE IS INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF BULGARIA IN THE POST SECOND WORLD WAR PERIOD.