cleanliness and cleaning services: social hygiene, the economy of invisible labor and postmodern aesthetics Introduction: Cleanliness as a social construct and industry The concept of "cleanliness" is far from the binary opposition of "dirty/clean." It is a complex sociocultural construct historically defined by religious taboos, medical paradigms, class differences, and aesthetic ideals. Cleaning services, which emerged in response to urbanization and the division of labor, are not just providers of domestic services but also agents of social hygiene, status markers, and operators of "invisible labor" in the post-industrial economy. Their evolution reflects shifts in understanding privacy, health, and the organization of urban space. 1. Historical genealogy: from ritual uncleanness to the hygiene modern In archaic societies, cleanliness was primarily a ritual category (for example, the concept of miasmata in ancient Greece or haram in Islam). Professional cleaners often belonged to lower, "unclean" castes (Japanese burakumin, Indian dalits), creating a paradox: those who ensured cleanliness were themselves considered socially "unclean." A turning point came in the 19th century with the triumph of the hygiene modern. The works of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch linked dirt to diseases. Cleanliness became a matter of public health and state policy. Municipal waste collection and street cleaning services appeared (in London — after the "Great Stink" of 1858). In the Victorian era, domestic servants, whose duties included cleaning, became a symbol of the middle class, and their ritualized labor a demonstration of control over the "wild" nature of matter within the home. 2. Cleaning as an industry: the economy of outsourcing and precarity In the second half of the 20th century, there is an industrialization of cleanliness. Domestic servants are replaced by professional cleaning companies. This was due to several processes: Feminization of labor and the entry of women in ... Read more