Distrust self-amplifies through feedback loops that confirm the distrust

Evidence

Consequently, distrust has an inherent tendency to endorse and reinforce itself in social interaction – a good example, perhaps indeed the very kernel, of those processes to which Merton devoted a classic essay under the title of ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. Underlying these processes is, as it were, an inverted feedback principle, that is, a wrongly or insecurely adapted system brings itself into equilibrium with its environment not by correcting itself on the basis of its effects but by finding its effects endorsed and hence offering occasions for new causes. This reinforcing effect is verified by numerous observations, particularly in organizational milieus. In particular, research into industrial subcultures has revealed, as one of its few ‘tangible’ results, that trust and distrust strengthen realities in a way which is difficult to trace back to specific causes. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 273

Categorization

• XREF: Directly links to Merton’s self-fulfilling prophecy and reinforces the Giddens ‘faceless commitments’ framing — institutional distrust (e.g., Stevens’s doubt about Lord Darlington) becomes self-confirming. — connects to: Negative feedback loops are a form of reciprocity — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1119
• ADDENDUM: Pertinent to the ‘On Sacrifice’ piece insofar as institutional loyalty reinforcing its own premises parallels ritual systems, though more directly relevant to the reader’s Luhmann–Ishiguro thesis.