Trust and distrust both reduce uncertainty but shape action differently

Evidence

Luhmann (1980, 71) says that trust and distrust are functional equivalents. The function to which Luhmann refers is that of reducing uncertainty. If I either trust or distrust you, I have fairly clear grounds on which to act toward you, either by cooperating with you or by not doing so. Hence trust and distrust are functionally equivalent in a rather odd and even perverse sense, roughly the sense of saying that “off” is functionally equivalent to “on” for an electric light. Trust and distrust are functionally very different in their implications for your actions or for social organization more generally. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 456

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to the reading purpose’s Luhmann baseline familiarity — this is the key theoretical anchor the reader wants to integrate with Saramago’s blindness epidemic.
• DEFINE: Clarifies Luhmann’s specific claim that trust and distrust are ‘functional equivalents’ in reducing uncertainty, and Hardin’s insistence on their different implications.