The Social groups in Stara Zagora and their needs

In order to characterize the necessities of the social groups in Stara Zagora – Bulgaria, the latter are divided into three main groups according to the age. These groups are the young people, the middle-aged people and the elder people. There are different necessities for every age, but unfortunately, only few of these needs are gratified and the main reason for this is the lack of money. Therefore, money may be considered as the main necessity of the people.



We will begin with the young people. They are divided into three subgroups. In the first one are included all the children from the age of seven to fifteen. They want mostly to enjoy themselves and having fun is their greatest need. However, the children of that age need money, too, because most of the amusements cost money The most common types of entertainment for these youngsters are going to discos, cyber cafes, cinemas and theatres and buying books and magazines as well. Also, the communication outside the family is very important because this is the age when people start to develop their social skills and to make good friends. For this reason, going to discos and cyber cafes, where the children can meet each other more often, is the most preferential entertainment. In a nutshell, at this age children begin to decide what they like and what do they need.

To the second subgroup refer the students over fifteen to the age of eighteen. At this age people begin to evolve intellectually and their view on the world changes dramatically. They start thinking of the Future and become more responsible. This is the period when the most important necessity for the youngsters is to study hard in order to be admitted in good college or university. However, most of the families do not have enough money to pay the college taxes of their children, so the latter must study harder to get a scholarship. Thus, their families can afford the college taxes. In fact, students at this age realize that they would not earn enough money if they do not acquire good career preparation. As a result, entertainment comes on the second plan. In short, at that time students start approaching maturity and their lives and necessities change immensely.

The third group of young people includes those between eighteen and twenty-five years. At this age most of them have already graduated high school. Moreover, there are many who have been taken in various colleges and universities. Most of those who have continued their education have to work in order to pay part of their education. During this period students often organize parties, but not only for entertainment. Now, they want to meet the opposite sex and to explore it more carefully. This is the time when people start searching for their spouses. For this reason, student often go hiking in the mountain, because this is a very good way to learn more about their potential wives’ and husbands’ characters. In other words, at this stage people begin to feel the needs of the adults.



n the next main group are the middle-aged people – from twenty-five to sixty years old. At this age people have already reached maturity and they have many different necessities and responsibilities. Their needs are various, but what they really need is a sure and profitable work, in order to earn enough money. These people need money not only to make their living, but also for entertainment and relaxation. When people work, they become very tired and they really need to relax. Regretfully, the salaries in Stara Zagora are not big enough and most of the people rest at home or at their houses in the village. But for those who have enough money, there are a lot of opportunities for relaxation. And, if a person is married and has children, he or she will need enough money to bring these children up. In addition, people of that kind often need to read special books about how to be a good parent. To sum that up, at that age people have a lot more responsibilities and
a lot more necessities as well.



The third main social group refers to the elder people. It includes all those who are over sixty years old. This age is characterized by less responsibility, but still a lot of needs. At that time most people have already retired. The only responsibility of the people at that time is to help in bringing up their grandchildren, if they have such. The elderly need to have pensions, which would provide them with enough money to live happy after the retirement. Further, this social group has more necessities than the previous one. Unfortunately, most of these people in Stara Zagora cannot satisfy their needs because of the lack of money. To illustrate this, another thing the elder people need is a good medical service. At that age people have various health problems and this type of service is very important for them. Furthermore, the elderly need to have a good medical insurance, because the medical service has a very high cost and only a pension cannot pay it out. In
conclusion, there are not many responsibilities for the people at this age but the needs are increased and difficult to satisfy.



To summarize this, the social groups in Stara Zagora have diverse needs. In each of the three main groups, there are necessities on different level. For the middle-aged and for the elder people the problem is that very few of their needs are satisfied properly. The people want to improve their style of life, but the main problem for most of them is money. However, only the children under the age of fifteen seem to be content.
© 2003 Freeway
Writer: Pavel Petkov (pavel_wd@yahoo.com)
HTML by: Jonas Ögren (te04-52@park.se).