Relying on collective trustworthiness is a collective, not merely individual, problem.

Evidence

Whereas in personal trust reflexivity is an exception, system trust builds upon the fact that others also trust and that this common quality of trust becomes conscious. Certainly it is not necessary in each individual case to remember that the ability to function rests on trust in trust. It seems rather that familiarity with money, power and truth is learned as behaviour and that typically the reflexivity of this mechanism remains latent, as does its highly risky character. Such latency can make the creation of trust more simple and act as a safeguard against uncontrollable fears – what would happen if everyone suddenly wanted to cash in all their money, or if everyone appeared armed on the streets. Nevertheless, the rational basis of system trust lies in the trust placed in the trust of other people. The uncovering of this basis through sociological analysis can make the conditions under which this type of trust functions transparent and thus alleviates the type of latent insecurity which typically accompanies a reliance on mechanisms which are not understood. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Everyone relying on shared institutions is a fragile, tipable equilibrium; System trust rests on trusting that others also trust — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261; Reciprocal trust multiplies each party’s incentive to be trustworthy — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 1016 (+5 more)

Related

• Social institutions function through trust only at the individual micro level (similarity 0.87)
• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust (similarity 0.87)
• Trust extends kin-group loyalty outward to the whole society (similarity 0.85)
• Institutions enabling safe cooperation must precede trustworthiness, which precedes trust (similarity 0.83)
• Trust functions as social capital enabling collective purposes. (similarity 0.83)
• Trust requires both freedom to defect and constraints that make cooperation attractive (similarity 0.83)
• Institutions substitute for trust by securing trustworthiness coercively. (similarity 0.83)
• Well-founded confidence in collective trustworthiness is humans’ best condition (similarity 0.82)
• Trust is a small-scale phenomenon that institutions must replace to enable large-scale cooperation (similarity 0.82)
• Trust may have evolved from dense small-community interactions (similarity 0.82)
• Highly cooperative societies can sustain mutual trust without religion. (similarity 0.82)
• Trust alone cannot explain modern social order. (similarity 0.82)
• Trust should be a by-product of good institutions, not their precondition (similarity 0.82)
• Trust’s interconnected structure makes it fragile across whole systems (similarity 0.82)
• Individual trust is not rational even where group-wide trust would benefit all (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust #expands (0.85) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261
• Institutions enabling safe cooperation must precede trustworthiness, which precedes trust #expands (0.82)
• Trust presupposes a structured environment supplied by the existence of other systems. #expands (0.80)
• Communal trustworthiness can seed willingness to trust in wider society #expands (0.78) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 823
• Reciprocal trust multiplies each party’s incentive to be trustworthy #exemplifies (0.75) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 1016