Die Ordnung der Gesellschaft: soziale Kategorisierungen in osmanischen politischen Texten des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts

A recurring topic of Ottoman advice literature is the categorisation of society into distinct groups. This representation of social order is contrasted with perceived ‘illegitimate’ social mobility and behaviour. Arising from processes of identification, which associate social groups with specific functions, characteristics, and patterns of behaviour, social categorisations are part and parcel of a discourse meant to preserve and stabilise social order. As such, they were embedded in a culture of knowledge shaped by binary oppositions such as rulers and subjects, order and disorder. This contribution examines three pieces of early-eighteenth-century advice literature by Defterdar Sarı Mehmed, Nahifi Süleyman, and Ibrahim Müteferrika. Firstly, I will analyse how the authors produced social categories, either positively, by specifying ‘appropriate’ practices, or negatively, by condemning certain behaviour. Secondly, I will discuss their use of Islamic normativity when defining legitimate behaviour. Hereby, the main focus lies on the image of high-ranking officials as the intended audience of the texts. I will show that social classifications and definitions of legitimate behaviour not only helped the authors to interpret socio-political change, but also contributed to a discursive construction of order.