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No. 2 (3), Readings of the Past No. 1 (2), Anthropology / history of the Contemporary World 2011
No. 1-2 (1), Preliminaries
ISSN 2084–1418
The paper edition of the Anthropology of History Yearbook is the definitive version

2011, No. 1-2 (1), Preliminaries

Monika Widzicka
“Travolterzy naszych czasów”. Criticism of Disco Against a Backdrop of Reflections on Popular Culture in Poland in the 1970th

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Keywords: disco culture, popular culture, socialism, myth, Western culture.

Abstract:
The article points out the main aspects of the criticism of disco culture, as well as relating it to widespread remarks on Western popular culture in the Polish press and sociological writings in the 1970th. The first discotheque was established in Poland in 1970 (Musicorama ’70 in Sopot) and within several years the number of discos mushroomed to 20 000. From the very beginning disco culture was considered a challenge to the socialist ideology and thus the Western origins were to blame for its banality and mediocrity. Therefore the authorities were supporting the idea of rectifying discos, which was nothing if not a variety of the principle that Western “inventions” must have been adapted to the current ideological frameworks. According to numerous authors, the American model of entertainment was not suitable to Polish youths as it boosted egotism and a demanding attitude. The metaphor of “the lonely crowd”, taken from David Riesman, was used to describe disco attendees, who were “so free that it made them bored”. In conclusion, as the author I will investigate how the myth of the Slavic community and Gnostic world outlook influenced this antagonism towards Western popular culture.

About Author:
WIDZICKA MONIKA – historian, anthropologist, PhD. student at the Faculty of History of the Jagiellonian University. Contact e-mail: mwidzicka[at]interia.pl

References
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