Rousseau'’s Origin of Private Property and Rise of Inequality

Shaharior Rahman Razu, Lecturer, Sociology Discipline, Khulna University

Rousseau was born in June 28, 1712, Geneva, Switzerland and Died in  July 2, l778, Ercnenonville, France. He was an French philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation. He has some great masterpieces among which the major are The social contract, Second Discourses Principle of political right etc.

“.. he furthered the expression of emotion rather than polite restraint  in friendship and love”.  Mourice Cranston.

Origin of Private Property

Rousseau argued that private property is a must for the betterment and sound standard of living. Mentioning its great importance Rousseau in his second discourses found that "the base of state is private property which  led toward  the  construction of the civil state”.
 

Before civil society as he argues that, "...the men were little underdeveloped and unconscious before the origin of the civil state."
There at this time the life existed was

1. Egalitarian in nature.
2. Survival in nature.

Demographic transition took place as in its distinct type at this time. As it follows

• High birth  - High death.
• High birth - low death.
• Low birth - low death.

He supposed that the second was in that time and the need of property became inevitable. As subsequently the civil state arose for two things –

• The need for betterment.
• The need to aspire men's superiority over another.

Along with Jefferson, Locke and several other thinkers, Rousseau found that land was the main source of private property. For Rousseau,

"Man thought that land could be used as property and so he took a piece of land and established ownership”.

(Source: Second Treaties, 1750, Chapt - V)
 

He also writes that every man has the right to possess property which he needs.
Besides this, he proposed some conditions of possessing property also. These are....

1. The land must not yet be inhibited. 
2. A man must occupy only the amount he needs for his subsistence.
3. Possession must be taken by means of labor and cultivation.

First Occupancy:

Every citizen has the right to enjoy the status and freedom of possessing property which he called first occupancy.  He recommended first occupancy for the sake of perfect freedom.
Now we shall try to explore how the origin of private property led towards the rise of inequality.

Rise of Inequality

Rousseau in his great work “Discourse on the origin of Inequality" (l755) discussed the origin of social inequality which came as a result of origin of social inequality which came as a result of origin of private property.

Rousseau begins his Discours sur  l'origine  de l’inegalite (1755 Discourse on the origin  of Inequality) by distinguishing two kinds  of inequality-

1.  Natural Inequality: The first arising from differences in strength, intelligence, and so forth was seen. Thus we may conclude that the social stratification was based on as he found to be age, gender, ability etc.
2. Artificial  Inequality: The second from the conventions those govern societies. It is the inequalities of the latter sort that he sets out to explain.  Adopting what he thought the properly “scientific” method of investigating origins,

The Early Phases

He attempts to reconstruct the earliest phases of man's experience of life on earth. His propositions are:

1. Original man was not a social being but entirely  solitary.
2. To this extent he agrees with Hobbes’s account of the state of nature.
3. In contrast to the English pessimist, view that the life of man in such a condition must have been “poor, nasty, brutish and short”  he took a different  approach.
4. Rousseau claims that original man, while admittedly solitary, “was healthy, happy, good and free.”
5. The vices of men, he argues, date from the time when men formed societies.

The Steps of Society in Rising Inequality:

Rousseau brings on the issue of the origin of society as the incentive to inequality.  He thus exonerates nature and blames "Society" for the emergence of vices.
However, Rousseau showed these arguments as why he finds the civil society responsible for all these inequalities:

• Passions that generate vices hardly exist in the state of nature.
• While the private property begins to develop as soon as men form societies.
• Societies started when men built their first huts, a development that facilitated cohabitation of male and females.
• This "nascent society", in term produced the habit of living as a family and associating with neighbors.
• It was good while it lasted; it was indeed the "Golden Age" of human history.
• Only it did not endure. With the tender passion of love there was also born the Property and destructive passion of jealousy.
• Neighbors started to compare their Possession of Property (abilities and achievements) with one another.
• For Rousseau, “marked the first step towards inequality  and at the same  time  towards vice.”

The Result of Inequality:

He found three crucial results as followed:

1. Men started to demand consideration and respect.
2. There innocent self-love turned into culpable pride.
3. Each man wanted to be better than everyone else.

References:
MLA Style: "Locke, John." Encyclopedia Britannica, Ultimate Reference Suite.
Chicago:  Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008.
Encarta Encyclopedia (DVD), Microsoft corporation , 2006,All rights reserved.