Social contract

A social contract or political contract is a perceived agreement among the people of a state about the rules that will define their government. These rules are usually called laws. Laws help to make sure people have rights and that their rights are protected. 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. They saw good government as coming from social contracts. Rousseau wrote a book called The Social Contract. Both the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution use the theory of social contracts.

The State of nature is the time before the social contract

Related pages
 Constitution
 Natural rights and legal rights
 Political economy
 Rule of law

Category:Law
Category:Political philosophy
Category:Sociology