Social contract history
Social contract is an agreement between the ruler and the ruled. Social contract can be a formal document or informal values and relations. In society, the relationship between people their governments or any other institutions are guided by social contracts. Social contracts may be in the form of regulations, constitutions, laws, social norms, religious practices, and conventional expectations. According to the theory, people were born as being either happy or unhappy; they then formed a society with some rules guiding them. Social contract enables people to live together in a society by agreements which govern political and moral laws.
Social contract history can be traced in the state back in the 17th and 18th centuries. The theory was determined from great philosophers, namely, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jacques Rousseau. There were oppression and hardship and to overcome them people in the state made two agreements the “pactum Unionis” and the “Pactum Subjectionis”. In the” pactum Unionis” people were seeking the protection of their properties and lives and a society was formed people respected each other and lived in harmony and peace. Under the “Pactum Subjectionis” people united and submitted to the authority by giving their rights and freedom to the administration (Rousseau, 85). In return, the authority was to protect property and lives. In a social contract, people should live together guided by some common laws, and create an institution which will enforce the laws. Governments, authorities, states, sovereign are formed through social contract.
There are two types of social contract, implicit or explicit social contracts. An explicit agreement sets out what the state/ government can do and what it cannot do. The American constitution is an explicit social contract. People living in the US agree to be guided by the political and moral obligations outlined in the constitution. Implicit social contract occurs in cases where inaction or actions of a person imply that they agree to something. For example, boarding public transport would mean that you agree to pay the amount which will be charged.
Social contract is important as it enables members of society to respect each other’s roles with each other. According to Hobbes, without social contract, life would be nasty, brutish, short, poor and solitary (75). A social contract establishes a political community, civil society, and personal freedom. Social contract is important as it expresses the will of people, their interest, and enables the establishment of ways to govern their welfare. The contract defines what the government expects from its people and what it owes its people. It helps to minimize social unrest since it determines what we owe to each other. Social contracts also define our conventions, social norms and expectations; therefore, people can live in peace and harmony. Social contract is guided by natural right and enables the rule of law.
A society without a social contract will not be able to protect the interests and values of people in society. People acting alone will not bring great prosperity in the community as compared to when people are working together (Hil, 75). Without a social contract, the society will also not be able to defend themselves external threat and there will be divisions, unrests and disputes in the society.
In conclusion, the social contract exists in each country. Although there is no social contract in the whole humanity across boundaries, the elements in the contracts are common. Social contracts guides our daily lives on the values and relationship between individuals. The social contract guides human conditions and protects lives through the set of obligations between people and governments.