The volume presents the results of research done by а team of Bulgarian scholars in the framework of the comparative project "After the Accession... The Socio-Economic Culture of Eastern Europe in the Enlarged Union: An Asset or а Liability?" coordinated by the Institut fur die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. Research focused on the prospect of cohabitation of Eastern and Western socioeconomic cu1tures in the enlarged European Union and the likelihood of their convergence.
Current cultural encounters between East and West are examined to predict future patterns of cultural compromise. Three fields, in which cultural exchange has been intense during the past ten to fifteen years, are considered: