Risk-calculating individualism historically replaced the heroic individualism of danger

Evidence

Whether or not one places trust in future events, the perception and evaluation of risk is a highly subjective matter (Kogan and Wallach 1967; Fischhoff et al. 1981). It differentiates people and promotes a different type of risk-seeking or risk-avoiding, trusting or distrusting, individuality. Among the many sources of modern individualism this may have had considerable importance. The individualism of risk-calculating merchants, learning from experience, attentive to news, making decisions on the basis of a well-judged mix of trust and distrust, replaces the individualism of the hero holding out against all kinds of danger and fit for all manner of unhappy surprises. Combining both types, Robinson Crusoe fascinated the period of transition. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1400

Categorization

• XREF: The hero-holding-out-against-danger versus risk-calculating-merchant contrast mirrors civilization moving from confidence in fate/danger to trust in chosen action.