State & Individual : Revisiting Social Contract – New Delhi, India

Jus Dicere

Jus Dicere hosts State & Individual: Revisiting Social Contract on February 25, 2018.

Since the beginning of human civilization, social contracts have helped structure how people and governments worked together. Societies are controlled by governments. This is the starting point for discussing social contract theory. Thinkers who believe in this theory argue that people benefit from living together in countries, kingdoms, or under other types of governmental oversight. Living in society, however, requires rules and laws. Societies are the result of compromises, and social contracts provide the framework for how people and governments interact.

Individuals who live within a social structure gain protection from outsiders who may seek to harm them. In return, they must give up certain freedoms (like the ability to commit crimes without being punished), and they should contribute to making society stable, wealthy, and happy.

About the author

Reference Librarian, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University