social contract, in political philosophy, an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled or between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each.
Social contract theory says that
people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior
. … People who choose to live in America agree to be governed by the moral and political obligations outlined in the Constitution’s social contract.
Hobbes is famous for his early and elaborate development of what has come to be known as “social contract theory”,
the method of justifying political principles or arrangements by appeal to the agreement that would be made among suitably situated rational, free, and equal persons
.
First,
they must agree to establish society by collectively and reciprocally renouncing the rights they had against one another in the State of Nature
. Second, they must imbue some one person or assembly of persons with the authority and power to enforce the initial contract.
In simple terms, Locke’s social contract theory says:
government was created through the consent of the people to be ruled by the majority
, “(unless they explicitly agree on some number greater than the majority),” and that every man once they are of age has the right to either continue under the government they were …
social contract, in political philosophy,
an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled or between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each
. … They then, by exercising natural reason, formed a society (and a government) by means of a social contract.
Analysis. Rousseau’s central argument in The Social Contract is
that government attains its right to exist and to govern by “the consent of the governed
.” Today this may not seem too extreme an idea, but it was a radical position when The Social Contract was published.
Locke believed that
all people possess three fundamental rights: life, liberty, and property
. … In spite of their many differences, both Hobbes and Locke were both instrumental to the development of what we now call the Social Contract, the fundamental agreement underlying all of civil society.
Hobbes theory of Social Contract
supports absolute sovereign without giving any value to individuals
, while Locke and Rousseau supports individual than the state or the government. … He rules out a representative form of government. But, Locke does not make any such distinction.
Specifically for law enforcement, social contract theory is
important to justify the power that law enforcement can exert over the population as a whole
(Evans and MacMillan, 2014). The power imbalance, held by law enforcement, is part of the contract that society has agreed upon in exchange for security.
A social contract theory has played major role in enhancing political democracy in western political theory. …
Social contract enhanced the history of freedom
. Each individual was entrusted with own rights which no other person could deprive, unless by law which binds the citizens (Kelly & Boucher 1994, p. 209).
The parties are described as (1) motivated by self-interest, in as much as they will only agree to the contract if they perceive that they will benefit from social interaction; (2) concerned for the welfare of others, if only because they recognize that the advantages they expect to derive from the social contract will …
Problems with the social contract theory include the following:
It gives government too much power to make laws under the guise of protecting the public
. … If we do accept the contract and wish to abide by it, we may not fully understand what our part of the contract is or ought to be. Contracts can be unfair for some.
Social Contract. John Locke’s idea. It was
an agreement which had a purpose that the government is to protect the people’s natural rights in exchange for that protection
, the people give up their less important freedoms. You just studied 4 terms! 1/4.
What are the two contracts mentioned by John Locke?
People made two contracts, namely
social and political contracts
. The Social Contract was made between the people themselves. They surrendered only some of their rights- the right of interpreting and enforcing the law of nature. It was only a limited surrender and not a complete surrender of their rights.
What government did John Locke believe in?
Locke favored
a representative government such
as the English Parliament, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons. But he wanted representatives to be only men of property and business.
