Single Idea 7248

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 4. Economic equality]

Full Idea

Where wealth is concerned, no citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none should be so poor as to be forced to sell himself.

Gist of Idea

No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], II.11)

Book Reference

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.170


A Reaction

Rousseau is thinking of slavery, but this also points to prostitution as a key indicator of social equality. In Victorian Britain it seems that extensive prostituion was unavoidable; nowadays it looks more like a voluntary choice (for indigenous Britons).