An implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection. Theories of a social contract became popular in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries among theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a means of explaining the origin of government and the obligations of subjects.

]]>https://definedictionarymeaning.com/topic/141689/socialcontractRSS for NodeMon, 29 Jun 2026 01:16:03 GMTSun, 14 Jun 2020 14:44:06 GMT60