The Social Contract Theory

Question :

Explain The social contract theory

Answer :

Introduction

The social contract theory is one of the latest developments in the field of philosophy. The theory is proposed by three well-known philosophists, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Chin, 2016). The current essay analyses the social contract theory proposed by these three famous philosophists in the context of the article “Summary of Social Contract Theory by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau “by Manzoor Laskar and the given comic.

Social Contract, Crime and Singapore Society

 The social contract can be described as a philosophical theory that indicates how an individual needs to society to which they belong. As per the contemporary philosophical concept, the social contract is analyzed from different perspectives. The concept of the social contract is closely associated with crime in society (Shapiro, 2018). The social contract emphasizes on enforcing rules and regulations in the society which prevent criminal activities (Yeoh, Goh, & Wee, 2020). Without the contract, the individuals in a society would have the freedom to do anything which can lead to crime. Therefore, when the social contract is developed, individuals cannot get involved in criminal activities. Hobbes considered that humans were in a violent state before they became civilized (Laskar, 2013). As per Hobbes, the human being needs a sovereign authority to avoid unnecessary violence (Yeoh et al., 2020). However, submission to absolute authority leads to the violation of human rights. So, the concept of social contract suggested by Hobbes is not applicable in modern society (Shapiro, 2018).

 Rousseau indicated that society should be democratic in nature instead of accepting the authority of a single sovereign (Laskar,2013). In a democratic society, the individuals have right as per the opinion of the majority. Rousseau focused on reconciling individual freedom and considering society as a whole. As per Rousseau, the individual should give have some of their rights to become fully free because, society does not become completely free unless its members leave rights (Ho, 2018). It can be explained from the instances of those societies where the individuals gave rights to their slaves, became freer as a whole. If the individuals in a society do not form any kind of social contract, legitimate freedom cannot be guaranteed as any arbitrary force can take anyone else's freedom. The concept of Rousseau is heavily focused on the Government although, in the contemporary states, the government can be overthrown (Laskar, 2013). 

 John Locke proposed the concept of the welfare state and indicated that the role of Government, law, and order is protecting the natural rights of human beings (Laskar, 2013). As per Locke, the laws become invalid if the natural right is not protected. However, the extensive application of Locke’s concept in modern society can affect peace by creating property-related conflict.

 The social contract in the society of Singapore is demonstrated through the multi-party parliamentary system of the representative democracy (Inoguchi & Le, 2020). The society in Singapore practices the social contract suggested by Rousseau. In this system, the president of Singapore is considered as the head of the state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is viewed as the head of the government (Castree, 2016). The executive power is shared by the cabinet and the President. The cabinet provides control and general direction to the government. The cabinet is also considered as collectively responsible to the parliament.

In a democratic society, individuals are provided with the authority to choose their government. Being a democratic society in Singapore also, the government is selected based on the elections which enable the individuals to vote for their favourite party (Salminen, Gach, & Kaartemo, 2018). The ruling party is selected based on the vote of the majority. As per the constitution of Singapore, the parliamentary elections need to be done every 5 years (Musa, 2017). These general elections should be within three months of the dissolution of parliament. The Parliament has 93 seats. The party which wins the maximum of the seats forms the government.

 Despite the power of the citizens in Singapore to choose the government and parliamentary members, they need to maintain the social contract using the constitution (Neo & Xian, 2019). As per the constitution of Singapore, every citizen enjoys some sort of liberty. For instance, as per the article 9, no person should be deprived of personal liberty for life. The complaints can be made to the high court if an individual is detained unlawfully (Neo & Xian, 2019). In case an individual is arrested, the proper grounds should be shared and the person should be allowed to consult and defend himself by a law practitioner. The authority of a magistrate should be required to detain a person (Thio, 2019). These rules and regulations related to the liberty of an individual ensure proper enforcement of law and punishment of crime without violating the right of an individual to remain free. The discussion indicates that the constitution ensures that no individual loses the basic freedom and human rights despite getting involved in criminal activities.

Article 11 of the Constitution of Singapore indicates how the individuals are protected against criminal laws being subjected to repeated trials. As per the constitution, no individual should be punished for an act that is not punishable by law. It also ensures that a person should not be convicted repeatedly for the same crime. Article 12 indicates individuals should be treated equally by the law and they should be protected equally (Salminen et al., 2018). In Singapore, discrimination is strictly prohibited based on race, religion place of birth unless it is authorized by the constitution. Article 13 also promotes freedom of movement and protection from banishment (Castree, 2016). As per the article, the citizen should not be excluded from Singapore and they shall have the right to move freely or reside in any part subject to any security, public health or public order related law. Article 14 indicates of assembly, speech and association (Ho, 2018). As per the article 14, has the right to speech and shared the expression (Ho, 2018). They can assemble without arms and maintaining peace. They also have the right to develop associations. Article 15 promotes freedom of religion and the article 16 promotes the right to equal education (Salminen et al., 2018). The discussion on the different articles in the Singapore constitution indicates that the rules and regulations are developed to deter people from doing crimes. However, they enjoy the freedom of speech, movement, assemble, and practising religion in every situation. From the perspective of the social contract, the individuals have to leave some of their rights to maintain peace and freedom in society. In the case, the constitution plays a key role to guide the citizens on what to do and what should not be done.

Restrictions on Freedom as per Social Contract in Singapore

The freedom of expression and association and the right to privacy under mass surveillance are restricted as per the social contract of Singapore (Ho, 2018). The restriction is imposed to reduce the risk of crime in society. Subsection 2 of article 2 in the Singapore constitution restricts the freedom of speech and Association in some cases (Thio, 2019). Citizens in Singapore do not require permits from the police to conduct public assemblies at the speaker’s corner. However, foreigners need to take a permit to speak at the park (Salminen et al., 2018). The personal details required being registered with the national parks board online before protesting or speaking at the park. The protestors or speakers are also subject to surveillance by the surveillance cameras located at the park. Criminal activities are considered to cause public disorder (Thio, 2019). In Singapore, not provided for the events which can cause public disorder and can insight hostility between different racial groups (Salminen et al., 2018). The censorship is also done to prevent sharing of religiously or racially sensitive content. Sensitive content can create disorder among people of a particular religion or race and can lead to crime (Thio, 2019). Therefore the criminal laws and media regulations are imposed to prevent search content. The enforcement of The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) can be discussed in this context (Neo & Xian, 2019). As per this act, only one minister can declare any information which is published online as false and can claim to correct the information (Neo & Xian, 2019).

The criminal activities are defined as wrongful behaviour which has interpretive meanings. The media plays a key role to shape the perception and interpretation of criminal activities in the society (Castree, 2016). To ensure the appropriate use of media in the society of Singapore, the freedom of the press is also restricted by different rules and regulations such as the sedition act, and the internal security act. Internal security act is enforced to identify and mitigate the religious and racial threats, terrorism and subversion (Thio, 2019). This act permits the ministry of home affairs to detain individual indefinitely without any trial of formal charges (Castree, 2016). The situation act punishes any seditious speech, act, publication, sale and distribution of similar material. This act also defines any activity related to hostility different religious and racial groups as criminal activity. 

 The citizens do not have the freedom to maintain their privacy in case of mass surveillance. The government can conduct such surveillance any time without any judicial authorization (Thio, 2019). The government uses its extensive network to track the activities of the citizens. The lack of privacy indicates the emphasis on maintaining order and peace in the social contract of Singapore (Castree, 2016).

The concept of crime is closely associated with culture and values in a society. LGBT rights are recognised in many societies. In Singapore, the Penal Code, s. 377A criminalises the sexual activities between two men even if consent is obtained (Neo & Xian, 2019). However, no prosecution has been undertaken since 1999 for getting involved in private gay sex activities (Salminen et al., 2018). In 2009, a rally supporting Gay rights was organised at Speaker’s corner without government intervention (Salminen et al., 2018). It indicates that the social contract in Singapore is being influenced by modern culture and values.

Conclusion

The discussion on the social contract in Singapore indicates that it is shaped by the Rousseau’s concept and it is democratic in nature. The power of form the government is vested among people. The concept of freedom is influenced by the concept of crime, culture and values. The citizens have the freedom to move, speak, express, access education and equality. However, freedom is restricted to ensure peace and order in society.

References

Castree, N. (2016). Geography and the new social contract for global change research. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 41(3), 328-347. Retrieved from: http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3388&context=sspapers [Accessed 5th August 2020]

Chin, J. (2016). The 2015 Singapore Swing: Depoliticised Polity and the Kiasi/Kiasu Voter. The Round Table, 105(2), 141-148. Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00358533.2016.1154383 [Accessed 5th August 2020]

Ho, B. T. E. (2018). Power and Populism: What the Singapore Model Means for the Chinese Dream. The China Quarterly, 236, 968-987. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/openview/90592b615090e20bb0efc32f08b2beab/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=34774 [Accessed 5th August 2020]

Inoguchi, T., & Le, L. T. Q. (2020). Global Social Contract Theory. In The Development of Global Legislative Politics (pp. 9-23). Springer, Singapore. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-32-9389-2_2 [Accessed 5th August 2020]

Laskar, M. (2013). Summary of social contract theory by Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Locke and Rousseau (April 4, 2013). Retrieved from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2410525 [Accessed 5th August 2020]

Musa, M. A. (2017). Engaging Religion with Pragmatism: The Singapore State’s Management of Social Issues and Religious Tensions in the 1980s.

Neo, J. L., & Xian, A. O. H. (2019). Making the Singapore Constitution: Amendments as Constitution-Making. Retrieved from: https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/jrnatila14&section=8[Accessed 5th August 2020]

Salminen, J., Gach, N., & Kaartemo, V. (2018). Platform as a social contract: An analytical framework for studying social dynamics in online platforms. In Collaborative value co-creation in the platform economy (pp. 41-64). Springer, Singapore. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-8956-5_3[Accessed 5th August 2020]

Shapiro, R. A. (2018). A New Social Contract. In Pragmatic Philanthropy (pp. 159-166). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7119-5_9[Accessed 5th August 2020]

Thio, L. A. (2019). Irreducible Plurality, Indivisible Unity: Singapore Relational Constitutionalism and Cultivating Harmony Through Constructing a Constitutional Civil Religion. German Law Journal, 20(7), 1007-1034.Retrieved from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/99712D8CDE9C2BE119E30A7F9766F23B/S2071832219000750a.pdf/div-class-title-irreducible-plurality-indivisible-unity-singapore-relational-constitutionalism-and-cultivating-harmony-through-constructing-a-constitutional-civil-religion-div.pdf[Accessed 5th August 2020]

Yeoh, B. S., Goh, C., & Wee, K. (2020). Social protection for migrant domestic workers in Singapore: International conventions, the law, and civil society action. American Behavioral Scientist, 0002764220910208.  Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764220910208[Accessed 5th August 2020]