“We are finally in our own home. Don’t stop, don’t wait. What to do? Help!” - declared from TV screens well-known actors and luminaries of culture during the reign of Tadeusz Mazowiecki. The economic changes of the 1990s resulted in the literal realization of the title motto: many Poles lived in their own homes. After years of living in blocks of flats, they got a chance to make their dreams of a home come true, most often in the suburbs. This process was made possible by new financial mechanisms, including mortgages.
Dorota Leśniak-Rychlak’s book shows the ownership and social transformations connected with the creation of the middle class and the emergence of new models of living during the transformation period: a house in the suburbs and an apartment building in a fenced housing estate. The book is based on material obtained from magazines, series, films, interviews with experts and residents, and literature on the subject. The author is particularly interested in the identity of Poles expressed by the way they live. The book is complemented by rich illustrative material: collages by Dominika Wilczyńska, photographs by Jarosław Matla, Grzegorz Karkoszka and Agata Wiśniewska, infographics by Kacper Kępiński and illustrations by Joanna Sowula.
