In his political writings, Rousseau warned that associations, including faith and family, could undermine citizens’ ability to identify wholly with the state, thereby imperiling its unity. However, his case against associations is not confined to ensuring loyalty to the all-encompassing state that constituted one pole of his thought. Rather, Rousseau’s objection to associations is primarily psychological, not political. Rousseau feared all attachments that might divide man against himself, or make him a hostage to the will of another. This attack on associations is echoed in current debates in which the freedom of association is restricted not in the name of the all-enfolding state, but the individual’s right to autonomous self-identification.