This dissertation is a study of relationships between the production of knowledg e and the social reproduction of elites in high medieval Damascus (1190-1350). I t advances several related arguments intended to reassess relations between soci ety and culture in the pre-Ottoman Middle East. First, it argues that because of the peculiarities of political power in the medieval Middle East, the social hi story of the region cannot be compared to that of others through analysis of ins titutions, social bodies, or social structures. The most productive level of com parison is practices of social reproduction, rather than the institutions that i n other societies were the forms such practices took. Second, it argues that the best evidence for elite political and social strategies is to be found not in o riginal documents stored in archives, but rather in the biographical dictionarie s, which constituted a written repository for the critical practices of the soci ety. Third, it suggests that as medieval Damascus was a city without strong lega l, state, or corporate institutions, all status, wealth, and power were prizes w on and held through constant competition. To the civilian elite, control over th e production of knowledge was both the object of such competition and the instru ment by which it was carried out. An introduction examines approaches to relatio nships between society and culture in the pre-Ottoman Middle East. Chapter one e xamines how a changing form of domination in twelfth and thirteenth century Dama scus transformed the recruitment, relations to state power, and social reproduct ion of the civilian elite. Chapter two looks at madrasas to understand whether t hey constituted the form of specialized higher education scholars have thought t hey did. It argues that madrasas did not transform the nature of education in Da mascus, but had their greatest effect in establishing a set of prizes for social competition among elites. Chapter three examines how elites acquired their soci al and cultural capital through the cultivation of knowledge. It is especially i nterested in the ritual and performative aspects of the production of knowledge. Chapter four examines how the civilian elite made use of their control over the production of knowledge in social competition.