Was Rousseau indeed right?

ABSTRACT. The opening words of Rousseau’s famous The social contract (1762) – “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Many a one believes himself the master of others, and yet he is a greater slave than they.” – sent a powerful message to the world: human beings are children of nature who forgot all about their natural freedom, having lost it by willingly replacing it with the bondage of corrupt modern civilization.