Cooperative behavior is essential for a society to remain functional. One of the most significant concepts is called Social Contract.

Social contract theory has been cited as the fundamental basis for the development of government and law, especially democracy and its application.

• Central to social contract theory is the idea that moral and political obligations are dependent on an agreement or covenant between people to form a society. In this agreement people surrender some of their natural freedoms for the good of an ordered and safe society. The contract involves parties keeping some natural rights, while accepting restrictions of some liberties, as well as assuming some obligations.
• An early social contract example is the Mayflower Compact which bound the signers into a "Civil Body Politic" for the purpose of passing "just and equal Laws . . . for the general good of the Colony." For the first time in the New World, these words expressed the idea of self-government.
• From Socrates to Thomas Hobbes to John Locke to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, social contract theory sets foundation concepts that became the underpinnings of democratic government. The social contract philosophy influenced the implementation of democratic government in many countries and had particular influence on the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

Teaching philanthropy ensures that individuals understand the critical "social glue" synonymous with social contract and the value of acting for the common good to make a safe and ordered society.

Constitution Society. The Social Contract and Constitutional Republics.
http://constitution.org/soclcont.htm

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Social Contract Theory.
http://www.iep.utm.edu/s/soc-cont.htm