System trust rests on expectations that most won’t test the system

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)

In conditions of modernity, attitudes of trust towards abstract systems are usually routinely incorporated into the continuity of day-to-day activities and are to a large extent enforced by the intrinsic circumstances of daily life. Thus trust is much less of a “leap to commitment” than a tacit acceptance of circumstances in which other alternatives are largely foreclosed. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 222 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Stevens embodies Giddens’s faceless commitments, but Luhmann shows system trust enables ethical abdication; System trust produces a compulsion to trust a system one cannot correct; System trust survives individual disappointments that would destroy personal trust (+6 more)

Related

• System trust produces a compulsion to trust a system one cannot correct (similarity 0.92)
• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust (similarity 0.91)
• Trust rests on structural system guarantees that relieve individuals of risk assessment (similarity 0.90)
• Trust in experts is trust in impersonal systems, not in individuals (similarity 0.89)
• Personal trust becomes system trust under civilized conditions (similarity 0.89)
• Trust in abstract systems is tacit routine, not conscious choice. (similarity 0.89)
• System trust stays latent and beyond open discussion (similarity 0.88)
• System trust survives individual disappointments that would destroy personal trust (similarity 0.88)
• External trust depends on learning and system cover, not internal structural reasons. (similarity 0.87)
• System trust operates independently of individuals’ personal readiness to trust (similarity 0.87)
• Familiarity prevents trust from becoming a conscious problem; doubt reopens it. (similarity 0.86)
• Most trust is unreflective, routinized background assumption rather than calculated risk (similarity 0.86)
• System trust resists individual disappointments, unlike personal trust. (similarity 0.86)
• In Luhmann’s framework, systemic trust is the general belief that societal systems function reliably, functioning as a mechanism that reduces complexity and enables smooth social interaction, and… (similarity 0.86)
• Modern trust is vested in abstract capacities, not individuals (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust #expands (0.70) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261
• Trust in abstract systems is tacit routine, not conscious choice. #corroborates (0.60) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 222
• Most trust is unreflective, routinized background assumption rather than calculated risk #corroborates (0.60)
• External trust depends on learning and system cover, not internal structural reasons. #qualifies (0.50)
• Trust rests on structural system guarantees that relieve individuals of risk assessment #complicates (0.50)