Rousseau: On the Importance of Private Property and Private Interests

In a society based on private property, a conflict arises between private economic interests and the general interest of the society. For this to be minimized in favor of the general will, Rousseau advocated a return to simple society based on a primitive economy. In his critiques on civil society, Rousseau identifies the division of labor, private property and exchange as the central causes of moral and political corruption in that society. Interestingly, he considers …

…the preservation of property being a crucial element of the self. As the origin of property was in one's labor (as he says in the Discourses), there is a part of oneself invested in one's property. So control over one's property was merely an extension of one's mastery over one's self. Works Cited Birkhead, John. Property and Amour Propre. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1996 Noone, John. Rousseau's Social Contract, A Conceptual Analysis. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1980