Od miski do saloniku kąpielowego. Udomowienie nowoczesnej łazienki
From a Bowl to a Bathing Lounge: The Domestication of the Modern Bathroom

Summary/Abstract: Drawing on the technology domestication theory and the concept of bathroom regime, this article aims to analyze the processes of the normalization and transformation of domestic bathrooms in Polish cities in the period from the 1950s to the present. The research was conducted through retrospective in-depth interviews in Warsaw and Poznań. The research was preceded by a quantitative analysis of the diffusion of bathrooms in Poland. Under socialist modernity, the discourse of progress shaped everyday life and made the bathroom a symbol of modern domesticity and social distinction. As bathrooms became the norm in late socialism, status competition shifted toward higher-standard bathrooms, reflecting the mechanisms of fashion. The experience of bathing in warm water in heated bathrooms initiated the transition from the regime of the hygienic bathroom, centered on cleanliness, to the regime of well-being bathroom. In this new regime, the bathroom is a place of not only hygiene but also of comfort, self-care, and identity formation.

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