The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a classic work of political philosophy that examines the foundations of civil society. It explores the relationship between the individual and the state, and argues that legitimate government is based on the consent of the governed. Rousseau's ideas had a profound influence
The Social Contract, originally published as On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right, is a 1762 French-language book by the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The book theorizes about how to establish legitimate authority in a political community, that is, one compatible with individual freedom, in the face of the problems of commercial society, which Rousseau had already identified in his Discourse on Inequality (1755).