The Emergence of Public Opinion
State and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire

Charts the Ottoman Empire's unique path to creating a realm of social life in which public opinion could be formed.

Murat R. ?ivilo?lu (Author)

9781316641392, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 June 2020

331 pages
23 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.46 kg

Nineteenth-century Ottoman politics was filled with casual references to public opinion. Having been popularised as a term in the 1860s, the following decades witnessed a deluge of issues being brought into 'the tribune of public opinion'. Murat R. ?ivilo?lu explains how this concept emerged, and how such an abstract phenomenon embedded itself so deeply into the political discourse that even sultans had to consider its power. Through looking at the bureaucratic and educational institutions of the time, this book offers an analysis of the society and culture of the Ottomans, as well as providing an interesting application of theoretical ideas concerning common political identity and public opinion. The result is a more balanced and nuanced understanding of public opinion as a whole.

Introduction
1. Historical background
2. A bureaucratic public sphere
3. The world of Ismail Ferruh Efendi
4. The schooling of the public
5. The emergence of a reading public after C.1860
6. 'The Turkish Revolution'
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Asian history [HBJF]