Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Tunick, Mark

Abstract

The Social Contract details the liberties of members in society; those willing and able to consent to the contract were afforded the luxuries of protection and assistance through the government. I draw on the theory of Charles Mills in The Racial Contract, which argues that the black life was never intended to fit into the Social Contract. During the early stages of it’s inception, black people weren’t regarded as valid members who enter the contract. Disagreement about the validity of frustration felt by the Black community as a result of this exclusion has created a social and political divide. I document multiple instances in which black lives have been disregarded and undervalued. Drawing on John Locke’s Treatise of Two Governments regarding justified resistance when the government violates the Social Contract, I justify the resistance and outrage of the Black community and argue for a restructuring of another Social Contract, made to consider everyone.

Comments

Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, 2021

Extent

46 p.

Identifier

FAUHT00165

Download

Share

COinS