| 1. | the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members. |
| 2. | an agreement for mutual benefit between an individual or group and the government or community as a whole. |
| social contract n. An agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each. |