How Can Care Produce Inequality? The Privileges of the "Active Fighters Against Fascism and Capitalism"

The article draws on Bourdieu’s model of the types of capital in order to explore the privileges of the “active fighters against fascism and capitalism” in communist Bulgaria granted in recognition of their contribution to the communist resistance during the Sec- ond World War. The focus is first on financial and material benefits, and then on social care. The thesis is that privileges generated specific kinds of inequalities articulated in the accumulation and transmission of various types of capital. These inequalities could not always be captured by quantitative indicators but were acutely felt by the population at the time. Ironically, the attempts to reward the participants in the resistance according to their actual contribution, turned out to be incongruous with fundamental values propagated by the regime such as equality and solidarity. As a result, the care for these “active fighters” suffered from inherent tensions.