The Concept of the Self in Explaining Post-1989 Bulgarian Physicians’ Emigration

This article presents the results of the methodological and empirical efforts for exploring and understanding the emigration of Bulgarian physicians, after 1989. The study applies a biographical approach through a conceptual framework, which utilizes concepts from social theory and social anthropology. Using in-depth interviewing as the main research tool, complemented by a secondary data gathering technique, the study offers an explanation of the migration decision as generated in a conflict of the migrant’s understanding of his/her self and of the desired relation of the self to society on one hand and the migrant’s understanding of his/her society on the other. The concept of the self (self-identity, self-consciousness) proves effective in explaining the migration decision.