In patronage societies trust depends entirely on special personal relationships

Evidence

On the one hand there is the extreme addiction to patronage politics: the weak can survive thanks to protection by the strong, and everything depends on networks. There is no trust without a special relationship, and not too much even then. This is the shadow of the old style of cohesion, surviving in a modern context. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2050

Categorization

• XREF: Nearly echoes Hardin exactly — trust as encapsulated interest requiring a special relationship; the observability constraint on trust in action.
• SEED: The claim ‘no trust without a special relationship’ could anchor an essay contrasting relationship-based trust in patronage societies with institution-based trust in modern states — and where each breaks down.