num_pages: 188
description: "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains." These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or ‘social contract’, that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of liberty and law, freedom and justice, arriving at a view of society that has seemed to some a blueprint for totalitarianism, to others a declaration of democratic principles. In his introduction, Maurice Cranston examines the historical and political ideas that influenced Rousseau and places The Social Contract against a backdrop of Rousseau’s remarkable personality and life.
language: English
title: The Social Contract
titlecomplete: The Social Contract
genres: France, Politics, Political Science, Philosophy, French Literature, Nonfiction, 18th Century, Classics, Sociology, History
ratings_count: 47621
publisher: Penguin Books