Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau in

¶ … Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau In The Social Contract, Jean Jacques Rousseau addresses the problem of political obligation and individual freedom. The work consists of four books, each comprising a number of sections that address the above-mentioned issue from several angles. The first book then deals with the troublesome aspect of a human being's apparent perpetual slavery. Book II concerns the issue of sovereignty. Rousseau now shifts his focus from the individual to the human relationship with the State.

In Book III there is another shift of focus to government itself, and the various forms that government may take. Finally Book IV draws redresses the issue of the human relationship with the state in the light of the exposition given in the first three books. It is also in this book that he explains the ideal of the social contract, and how the state should work together with its subjects to create a perfect and peaceful society.

Rousseau makes a strong argument in his first book when he states that "One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they." (Book I; ch.i). This is applicable to current society, which is more often than not subject to some or other less than laudable human trait such as greed or addiction. People are slaves to money, drugs, success or any other of a maze of possible enslavements.

This was also true in Rousseau's time, and he recognized that human beings are in bondage since birth. Rousseau's opening statement that "Man is born free" is intriguing. Indeed, according to the rest of the section, this is not so. Even since birth a child is obliged to be in bondage to its parents until it can leave the home on its own. After this the child is subject to political and social rules, as well as a myriad other connections.

Thus the opening statement rings somewhat untrue, unless it is taken in the sense that all persons should be born free. The familial bond is however seen by Rousseau as "natural," based upon the need of the child to survive and the need of the parent to care. When the need expires, so does the bond that ties the child to the parental home. Rousseau later once again addresses the issue of mutual need when he draws his conclusions in Book IV.

According to this Book, there is, or should be, a common good tying a body of persons together. This is what true governmental politics should be. Everything should be clear and open, as well as accessible to the public. Every person should be aware of the common good, and that all actions are focused towards this. I doubt however that this is possible in the social context of current politics. Rousseau's perfect social contract precludes human greed and other undesirable traits such as the urge to scheme and deceive.

This urge appears particularly strong in politicians. When political falsehood comes to light, people lose their trust in the particular politicians involved, or even in the system in general. Rousseau's model is therefore valid only in a world of near-perfect human beings. As it is however, human beings live in a global community that is too diverse to have a single common good. Thus, while Rousseau's social contract does hold some value, it would need some modification if it is to be applied to society as it is.

In Book I then Rousseau touches on the very point of simplicity when he mentions the family as the most ancient, simple and effective of societies within which there is a contract regarding the common good of the whole. In Book III again he states that no government is by nature simple (Book III; ch.i). The key perhaps is to find a balance between simplicity and complexity which would then serve the common good.

While many of the ideas in The Social Contract are simplified and idealistic, it is also true that the book may hold value in scholarship and society today. Indeed, several common goods could be defined according to the various social paradigms existent in the world today. Forms of government as explained by Rousseau can then be modified, combined and even simplified for the common good of all within a particular region.

This will however have to occur within an environment where, as Rousseau suggests in Book IV, there is an awareness that the common good is also the individual good. Anything else cultivates.