social contract theory

social contract theory

a theory of the origins and/or present basis of the STATE, which, in its simplest form, holds that the state arises from a ‘contract’ in which each member gives up his own ‘natural rights’ (see NATURAL RIGHTS AND NATURAL LAW) in return for new rights under the law (see also LOCKE, ROUSSEAU). Social contract theory does not apply to most historical cases of state formation, though it does apply to the foundation of new constitutions such as that of the US in 1787, which, in part at least, have been explicitly enacted under the guidance of social contract theory. Rather than as a straightforwardly explanatory or sociological theory, the historical role of contract theory is an ethical or logical theory, advanced to provide moral evaluation and reconstruction of existing constitutions, to justify revolutions, etc. See also JUSTICE, RAWLS.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000