The verified answer to “Books and Authors question: With The Social Contract as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?” is The Social Contract — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, option C. The source-backed, question-specific record explains: The Social Contract is correctly associated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The work’s first publication is conventionally dated to 1762, and its original language is French. These three details—title, author, and language—form the decisive bibliographical combination required here. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a major Genevan literary figure, is also associated with Émile; that companion title helps confirm the authorship independently rather than through guesswork. The distractor set (The Interpretation of Dreams — Richard Dawkins; The Selfish Gene — Simone de Beauvoir; The Second Sex — Sigmund Freud) must therefore be tested as complete statements: one true fragment cannot make an entire option correct. A common examination trap is to confuse an author’s nationality with the language of composition, or a translation date with first publication. Another is to treat a well-known adaptation or later edition as the original work. Revision takeaway: remember the compact chain “The Social Contract — Jean-Jacques Rousseau — French — 1762,” and connect it with Émile for stronger recall. This evidence establishes the bibliographic relationship required in this Books and Authors item. A correct solution must preserve the exact title, author, publication context, language, award or comparison requested by the stem. Similar periods, genres or national traditions do not make two book–author pairs interchangeable. Option C gives The Social Contract — Jean-Jacques Rousseau and satisfies the wording of the question. The remaining choices—The Interpretation of Dreams — Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene — Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex — Sigmund Freud—do not satisfy the complete requirement.