Citizen Analysis in The Social Contract

While the term “citizen” generally refers to any individual who legally belongs to a nation or body politic, Rousseau uses it more narrowly. For Rousseau, people are “citizens” in their active capacity as part of the state’s sovereign (or lawmaking) body. In other words, people are citizens in the sense that, having freely agreed to the social contract, they are now part of the nation and partially responsible for making its laws and directing its political future. Therefore, the word “citizen” stresses people’s responsibility to and for their nations. It contrasts with the word subject, which refers to people in their passive relation to the state, as they are forced to obey the same laws they help form as citizens. The concept of citizenship is also important to Rousseau because it defines his perspective on himself as an individual and thinker: like most of his books, he signed this one “J.-J. Rousseau, Citizen of Geneva,” and he frames The Social Contract as his attempt to make sense of his rights, responsibilities, and duties as a citizen. Notably, however, only a minority of Genevans were citizens in Rousseau’s time—in other words, citizenship was reserved for a privileged few,and most people were merely subjects, although Rousseau clearly disagreed with this system.

Citizen Quotes in The Social Contract

The The Social Contract quotes below are all either spoken by Citizen or refer to Citizen. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Born as I was the citizen of a free state and a member of its sovereign body, the very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affairs, however little influence my voice may have in them. And whenever I reflect upon governments, I am happy to find that my studies always give me fresh reasons for admiring that of my own country.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Human Body and the Body Politic

Page Number and Citation: 49

Explanation and Analysis:

The act of association consists of a reciprocal commitment between society and the individual, so that each person, in making a contract, as it were, with himself, finds himself doubly committed, first, as a member of the sovereign body in relation to individuals, and secondly as a member of the state in relation to the sovereign. Here there can be no invoking the principle of civil law which says that no man is bound by a contract with himself, for there is a great difference between having an obligation to oneself and having an obligation to something of which one is a member.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Human Body and the Body Politic

Page Number and Citation: 62

Explanation and Analysis:

Hence, in order that the social pact shall not be an empty formula, it is tacitly implied in that commitment—which alone can give force to all others—that whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do so by the whole body, which means nothing other than that he shall be forced to be free; for this is the necessary condition which, by giving each citizen to the nation, secures him against all personal dependence, it is the condition which shapes both the design and the working of the political machine, and which alone bestows justice on civil contracts—without it, such contracts would be absurd, tyrannical and liable to the grossest abuse.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Human Body and the Body Politic

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

As for equality, this word must not be taken to imply that degrees of power and wealth should be absolutely the same for all, but rather that power shall stop short of violence and never be exercised except by virtue of authority and law, and, where wealth is concerned, that no citizen shall be rich enough to buy another and none so poor as to be forced to sell himself; this in turn implies that the more exalted persons need moderation in goods and influence and the humbler persons moderation in avarice and covetousness.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 96

Explanation and Analysis:

The better the state is constituted, the more does public business take precedence over private in the minds of the citizens. There is indeed much less private business, because the sum of the public happiness furnishes a larger proportion of each individual’s happiness, so there remains less for him to seek on his own. In a well-regulated nation, every man hastens to the assemblies; under a bad government, no one wants to take a step to go to them, because no one feels the least interest in what is done there, since it is predictable that the general will will not be dominant, and, in short, because domestic concerns absorb all the individual’s attention. Good laws lead men to make better ones; bad laws lead to worse. As soon as someone says of the business of the state—“What does it matter to me?”—then the state must be reckoned lost.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 140-1

Explanation and Analysis:

In the end, when the state, on the brink of ruin, can maintain itself only in an empty and illusory form, when the social bond is broken in every heart, when the meanest interest impudently flaunts the sacred name of the public good, then the general will is silenced: everyone, animated by secret motives, ceases to speak as a citizen any more than as if the state had never existed; and the people enacts in the guise of laws iniquitous decrees which have private interests as their only end.

Does it follow from this that the general will is annihilated or corrupted? No, that is always unchanging, incorruptible and pure, but it is subordinated to other wills which prevail over it. Each man, in detaching his interest from the common interest, sees clearly that he cannot separate it entirely, but his share of the public evil seems to him to be nothing compared to the exclusive good he seeks to make his own.

Related Characters: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 150

Explanation and Analysis:

Citizen Term Timeline in The Social Contract

The timeline below shows where the term Citizen appears in The Social Contract. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Sovereignty, Citizenship, and Direct Democracy Theme Icon

...title page to The Social Contract, or, Principles of Political Right is signed “J.-J. Rousseau, Citizen of Geneva.” Then, it includes an epigraph from the Aeneid, “foderis aequas / Dicanus leges,”... (full context)

Government and the Separation of Powers Theme Icon

...and utility. Rousseau admits that he is no “prince” or “legislator,” but rather merely a “citizen” trying to fulfill his responsibility to learn about “public affairs” and make informed voting decisions... (full context)

...a power (when compared with other nations). Its members are “a people” made of individual “citizens” who are also “subjects” to their collective sovereign power. (full context)

...This means that a member of society is two things at the same time: a citizen “of the sovereign body” who is partially responsible for making laws and “a member of... (full context)

...pay taxes as a form of injury and “seek to enjoy the rights of a citizen without doing the duties of a subject.” This is why laws can force individuals to... (full context)

National Longevity and Moral Virtue Theme Icon

...pursues its private agenda at the expense of the general will. Rousseau concludes that “every citizen should make up [their] own mind” and political parties should either not exist or be... (full context)

...and control its different parts and resources. But it cannot do anything it wants with citizens, since they retain their own individual rights, and so they cannot be forced to do... (full context)

Rousseau reiterates that all citizens are fundamentally equal, because “they all pledge themselves [to the sovereign] under the same conditions... (full context)

...right to risk [their] own [lives] in order to preserve [them].” Since the state preserves citizens’ lives, people can be forced to risk—or lose—their lives for the state. So citizens can... (full context)

...“neither too large to be well-governed nor too small to maintain itself.” Large countries reduce citizens’ “social bond” with one another and are logistically hard to govern, which breeds multi-level bureaucracies... (full context)

...Laws” of its government, and if unsuitable, can be changed). Then, to define how each citizen relates to the whole body politic, it requires “Civil Laws.” Next, it uses “Criminal Laws”... (full context)

...confusing mathematical terms, but his argument is simple. First, as a country’s population grows, each citizen gets less say in politics, and the government needs to grow stronger to get people... (full context)

...compose them,” now Rousseau defines the different kinds of government on this basis. If every citizen (or the majority of citizens) serves as a magistrate, there is democracy. If a few... (full context)

...of government,” Rousseau recalls his conclusion from the last chapter: states with larger populations of citizens should have relatively fewer magistrates. Therefore, he concludes, “democratic government suits small states, aristocratic government... (full context)

...breeds corruption and inequality. In short, these conditions require a profound degree of virtue from citizens—virtue is important in all states, but even more so in those that have democratic governments.... (full context)

...given people is well or badly governed.” However, everyone will see these signs differently: some citizens prioritize security while others cherish their rights; some government officials want power and some subjects... (full context)

...government and the sovereign (just like the tension between the particular and general wills of citizens and magistrates). Ultimately, he says, the government will always defeat the sovereign, “just as old... (full context)

...the Roman Republic, which managed to assemble virtually weekly despite having hundreds of thousands of citizens. In fact, “the majority of ancient governments […] had similar assemblies.” (full context)

When citizens stop prioritizing their “public service” as members of the sovereign over their own personal wealth—for... (full context)

As citizens gradually give up on participating in the sovereign legislature, they put representatives and deputies in... (full context)

...Rome, which was split between “its [upper-class] patricians and [lower-class] plebians”), or united because oppressed citizens have given up on participating in politics. (full context)

...to ensure they are of high quality. And since there is no “true democracy” whose citizens are all equals, democracies should also vote for some “places that call for special skills,... (full context)

...of life, the urban tribes could not fully dominate politics. However, when the government allowed citizens to choose their tribes, tribal divisions stopped influencing daily life. For similar reasons, the subdivisions... (full context)

...mean it dominated all decisions. The third and last comitia was strictly an assembly of citizens, not including the Senators (who had the executive power). Rousseau thinks that each of these... (full context)

...social practice tied to the nation and codified through laws, or “the religion of the citizen.” Some religions create a mixed society with two different institutions acting as the state—the sovereign... (full context)

...subjects to act when it is necessary for the public interest, the sovereign cannot control citizens’ personal religious beliefs. But it can and should establish a set of beliefs that good... (full context)

Citizen Term Analysis

Citizen Quotes in The Social Contract

Citizen Term Timeline in The Social Contract