social contract
14
6.7
- noun
- /ˈsoʊʃəl ˈkɒntrækt/
- Formal
:
contrato social
- In a democratic society, the social contract ensures that citizens agree to abide by the laws in exchange for protection and order.
- enter into a social contract
- social contract theory
- forge a new social contract
Like they were so invested in the story of the social contract they couldn't see the truth.
- Like they were so invested in the story of the social contract they couldn't see the truth.
- And you can see them both clearly reflected in, for example, Rousseau's Social Contract, right?
- But we've lost that, like I said, that social contract of how one behaves around each other.
- And that created what we call the post war social contract.
- So all three of them are working in what's known as the social contract tradition.
- I quote, we are forming our own social contract.
- Kant was quite into what philosophers call social contract theory.
- And by falling in love with someone outside of it, I had violated kind of the social contract of it.
- In many of these countries, there's a kind of, they're quite like a ruling bargain or like a social contract, right?
- Hops has a, and perhaps the answer, social contract theory.
Examples
-
In the end, organ transplantation depends on a social contract and on social trust.
Academic text (1998) -
And so one of the points of argument between Nozick and Rawls is what a fair social contract would look like.
-
This he calls the fundamental problem for which the social contract is the solution.
-
A significant part of your social contract is written down in your constitution.
-
The whole modern tradition of natural right and social contract theory held this view in some form.
Academic text (1999) -
Perhaps there's no country that better more needs a new social contract than China.
-
Consequently, a social contract entailing strong sets of laws is necessary to protect us from one another.
Academic text (2008) -
There was a certain incivility, a breach in some important element of the social contract.
Fiction book (1993) -
Suppose then that Mort declines the invitation to enter into a social contract with others.
Academic text (1990) -
Some Altman, the CEO of Aute May Eye, thinks that we need to change our social contract to deal with artificial intelligence.
Synonyms
∞
2.8
A written agreement between people or companies that the law can enforce
∞
1.4
A promise made between two or more people, often written
148
3.4
An agreement between two or more countries to work together
44
7.2
A formal written agreement between groups such as countries and companies to promise to do something or stop doing something
Antonyms
How Binding
∞
2.8
- Formal
538
5.0
- Formal
14
6.7
187
3.7
148
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'social' (relating to society) and 'contract' (an agreement) can likely infer that a 'social contract' refers to some kind of agreement among members of society, so part of the meaning is directly compositional. However, the term is an abstract political-philosophical concept (often tacit/implicit rather than a written legal contract), so the full nuance and theoretical sense may not be predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Social contract may come from the image of people making a simple deal: the word contract suggests a written promise or agreement, and social shows it is between members of a community. So it now means 'an agreement among people to give up some freedom in return for protection and order'.