Great power differentials make distrust spread contagiously among the weaker parties

Evidence

Moreover, in the context of great differences in personal power, distrust is malignant. I cannot trust the egoistic Henry VIII, and therefore I cannot trust anyone else at court much either, because they might use anything I say or do to undercut me with Henry, to my great peril. Indeed, I may merely not trust Henry while actively distrusting my fellow courtiers. Henry need have no competitive interest with me, but my fellow courtiers do. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 482

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Luhmann’s monitoring-collapse in the Blindness reading: when one actor monopolizes observability/power, distrust among peers becomes malignant, prefiguring the ward’s social breakdown.