Small incremental betrayals only matter when repetition accumulates into a changed final state

Evidence

The consequences of small increments, however, are only going to be of interest if they are repeated often enough to produce a substantially different state of affairs in the final analysis. Such incremental effects could be quite powerful on their own, but repetition gives rise to effects which could provide further support for a level of cooperation which has been established. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 697

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Path dependence plus recurrent mechanisms jointly explain contention’s regularities. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 366