· The social contract is an implicit agreement among self-interested, rational agents. This seems to imply we have no duties to beings who are not able to participate (even implicitly) in the contract. Examples:
nonhuman animals, those with mental disabilities
.
A social contract is
an unofficial agreement shared by everyone in a society in which they give up some freedom for security
. … As members of a society, we agree to the social contract — we cooperate with each other and obey society’s laws. We also give up some freedoms, because we want the protection society can offer.
· The social contract is an implicit agreement among self-interested, rational agents. This seems to imply we have no duties to beings who are not able to participate (even implicitly) in the contract. Examples:
nonhuman animals, those with mental disabilities
.
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.
Social contracts can be explicit,
such as laws, or implicit
, such as raising one’s hand in class to speak. The U.S. Constitution is often cited as an explicit example of part of America’s social contract. It sets out what the government can and cannot do.
- to respect. to be polite and considerate of.
- encouragement. the action of giving someone support and hope.
- integrity. honesty from within yourself.
- dignity. self-respect; sense of worth.
- leadership. ability to lead or guide.
- communication. …
- to be wise. …
- accountability.
- Connect to values/principles.
- Identify rules needed to run an effective classroom. …
- Ensure that rules are clear and specific.
- Make consequences relate as directly to the rule as possible.
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.
During the antebellum and Civil War periods, social contract theory was used by all sides. Enslavers used it to support states’ rights and succession, Whig party moderates upheld the social contract as
a symbol of continuity in government
, and abolitionists found support in Locke’s theories of natural rights.
The relation between natural and legal rights is often a topic of social contract theory. The term takes its name from The Social Contract (French: Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique), a 1762 book by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
that discussed this concept.
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 …
A social contract is
an agreement negotiated between students and teacher which states classroom principles, rules, and consequences for classroom behavior
.
He is relying on a social contract
which in almost every other sentence in his speech he pointed out was neither contractual nor social. We have heard a lot about the social contract. And before anybody starts to decry the social contract he had better tell us what he would put in its place.
Social contract
attempts to evaluate and show the purpose and value of the organized government by comparing and contrasting the civil society and the state of nature
. It has played a role of identifying the useful government to the western communities and the best state of governance to hold.
One kind of social contract is
a constitution
. A constitution says how decisions are made, and sets limits on the powers of leaders and other people who have authority. In the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote books about social contracts.
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.
