social contract
the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members.
an agreement for mutual benefit between an individual or group and the government or community as a whole.
Origin of social contract
1- Also called so·cial com·pact [soh-shuhl kom-pakt] /ˈsoʊ ʃəl ˈkɒm pækt/ .
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use social contract in a sentence
We need to build the new institutions and the new social compact that can harness its power and extend its benefits to everyone.
Did I Abandon My Creative Class Theory? Not So Fast, Joel Kotkin | Richard Florida | March 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe colonists of Plymouth had formed their social compact in the cabin of the Mayflower.
A short history of Rhode Island | George Washington GreeneIt is true there are certain organized conventions, which men have devised to keep up what is called the social compact.
The Robbers | Friedrich SchillerThe present National Assembly of France is, strictly speaking, the personal social compact.
The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume II | Thomas PaineThis conformity is an implied condition in the social compact.
By the social compact we have given the body politic existence and life: we have now by legislation to give it movement and will.
The Social Contract & Discourses | Jean-Jacques Rousseau
British Dictionary definitions for social contract
(in the theories of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, and others) an agreement, entered into by individuals, that results in the formation of the state or of organized society, the prime motive being the desire for protection, which entails the surrender of some or all personal liberties
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse