Social contract

The idea that political authority or moral obligations rest on an agreement, real or hypothetical, among the people bound by them.

Also: social contract theory, contractarianism, contractualism, state of nature

What it means

Social contract theories ask what people would, or did, agree to in order to live together. Thomas Hobbes argued that in a lawless 'state of nature' life would be fear and conflict, so rational people would accept an absolute sovereign. John Locke held that people consent to government to protect their rights and may replace a tyrannical one. Jean-Jacques Rousseau grounded legitimate authority in a general will. The idea appears as early as Plato's Crito, and John Rawls revived it in the twentieth century. Critics such as Carole Pateman and Charles Mills argue that the idealised contract has concealed real exclusions based on sex and race.

The questions it belongs to

• 3.2.4 Contract-Based ApproachesCould you justify this to everyone it affects?
• 6.4 Political PhilosophyWhen is political power legitimate, and what may it rightly do?
• 6.4.3 Sovereignty and the StateWho holds final authority, and what makes it final?

Thinkers

• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• John Rawls
• Charles Mills

Traditions

• Greek & Roman
• Modern European
• Analytic

To read

• A Letter Concerning Toleration — John Locke
• A Theory of Justice — John Rawls
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding — John Locke

Sources and further reading

• Social Contract Theory (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Social contract (Britannica)

Written by the Coordinates of Thought editors and checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. Not peer-reviewed. How we write and check.

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