Rousseau

[Furnival]

What exactly did his Social Contract mean.

[JohnPPotts]

Rousseau's Social Contract was an attempt to explain how societies can function. He suggested that people implicitly agree to a contract that restrict their actions (eg. not to kill each other, respect each others' property, etc.), rather than requiring a King to keep order (like Thomas Hobbs).

[incitatus]

Yes. By giving up the right to kill you gain the right not to be murdered. And so on down the line. This is why it is a contract between people rather than an enforced state such as the hobbsian or the plationic model. A later development, the utilitarian state, never really took off, though it was preferable: you should so order your affairs so as to incur the greatest good for the greatest number. Sadly Adam Smith seems to run the world these days.