The Ideological Management of the Public Opinion in the Seljuk Era with an Emphasis on the Issue of Legitimacy

Public opinion means the kind of attitudes of different groups which serve as an effective force in the politics and societal arenas. Therefore, any system has to win the support of the public opinion. This study seeks to examine the mechanism of the Seljuk government to manage the public ideological opinion in order to legitimize itself. With regards to the historical data and its analysis, the researchers try to investigate the Seljuk’s efforts and instruments regarding the above mentioned issue. Lacking dignity and prestige in the public opinion, the Seljuks hired Iranian managers and in this way they tried to gain dignity and credit. They managed the public opinion on two ideological and non-ideological levels. On the ideological level, they considered three vital components. The most important of these efforts was gaining legitimacy through using religious-national symbols and asking help from the influential leaders. The main focus of this study was to examine various aspects of this issue.