Trust and distrust can increase together within differentiated systems.

Evidence

A system-rational increase in the effectiveness of trust will depend on all the aspects of trust formation which we have treated in the course of our inquiry and cannot catalogue once again here. Nevertheless, perhaps the decisive question remains open as to whether and how it is possible for trust and distrust to be co-ordinated through the creation of systems, and so increased in tandem. For reasons of general systems theory which cannot be adequately developed here, two closely connected processes ought to be decisive. These are the differentiation of the system from its environment, i.e. the drawing of boundaries, and the inner differentiation of the system, i.e. the functional specification of its subsystems and mechanisms. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 313

Categorization

• QUESTION: Luhmann defers the full argument here — worth chasing the earlier chapters on how boundary-drawing and functional specification actually coordinate trust and distrust.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 313
• XREF: connects to: Binary schematization makes trust and distrust reversible opposites, easing transition between them. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 311; Trust and distrust can be institutionally interlocked without undermining each other; Trust and law evolved from a common root into differentiated mechanisms (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Trust and distrust can be institutionally interlocked without undermining each other #corroborates (0.85)
• Trust and law evolved from a common root into differentiated mechanisms #expands (0.60)