«How Many Faces are at the Disco?»: the Transformation of the «Diskoteki» Phenomenon in Late Socialism

Discos as a platform for socialization and the “disco” genre became an essential part of youth culture and, like a fashionable trend in Western culture, penetrated the countries of the Socialist block. In historiography, discos have not been examined in a complex way: works are dedicated either to the institutionalization of the phenomenon "from above," or these are studies aimed only at visitors, mostly sociological. In this research, I examine how the disco system was integrated into the culture of leisure at different levels during the late Socialism period. In fact, there was a strong intertwining between these sides, though they cannot be clearly separated from each other. The research provides information on why dance floors were replaced with discos, who were the participants of events, and how they were trying to avoid regulations locally.