With an Introduction by Derek Matravers In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society An individual can only be free under the law he says by voluntarily embracing that law as his own Hence being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all the general will Some have seen in this the promise of a free & equal relationship between society & the individual while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems