Modern wealth consists of symbolic promises exchanged among strangers.
Evidence
With the vast assortment of symbolic forms of wealth available, individuals can continually roll over their investments, trade one account, certificate, contract, or option for another-often by electronic meanswithout ever taking possession of the underlying wealth that these symbols represent. They willingly substitute worthless pieces of paper or plastic or electronic impulses (often held in custody by yet other strangers) for material wealth in the belief that symbolic promises can be readily exchanged for tangible property of equal value. — Shapiro, Susan P., The Social Control of Impersonal Trust, 31
Categorization
- XREF: The willingness to accept symbols from agents held in custody by ‘yet other strangers’ is the impersonal generalization of the dyad-triad dynamic — trust must always route through institutions, never face-to-face assurance. — connects to: Promises typically regulate relations with known people, not strangers; Currency arrangements can function as wealth-transfer mechanisms between societies.; Money expands economic circles and individualizes participants simultaneously — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 664 (+1 more)
Related
- Trust is structurally precarious because agents control symbolic wealth at a distance from principals. (similarity 0.81)
Broader Connections
- Promises typically regulate relations with known people, not strangers
#complicates(0.85) - Money expands economic circles and individualizes participants simultaneously
#expands(0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 664 - Currency arrangements can function as wealth-transfer mechanisms between societies.
#expands(0.80) - Trust is a social relationship of investing responsibility in another for uncertain future return.
#expands(0.80) — Shapiro, Susan P., The Social Control of Impersonal Trust, 17