“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a
man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.” ― Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, The Social Contract
The term Social Contract refers the notion
that there exists an agreement between people and the society they
live in, within demarked boundaries. Under this contract people have some
rights and responsibilities to the state. These are to be abided by as long as
the individual is alive or within the confines of a particular region.
Theoretically, this contract gives the
impression that both the state and its subjects are interdependent and so benefit
from each other. However, the it fails to deal with certain
classes of society which makes the contract unfair and biased. In some cases it
leads to subjugation of fundamental human rights as Rousseau pointed out "Man
was born free, and he is everywhere in chains". Here, one can question the
extent to which the state can exercise its right to control the lives of
people.
2 comments:
Unless power is factored into the theory, it will always fail to explain the biases among different classes in the society.
Yes class divisions exist within all societies. But can't the social contract exist irrespective of class divisions?
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