Trust disappeared from Luhmann’s late theory without being reworked

Evidence

In the early writings, trust was strongly bound to the problem of reduction of complexity within an action-theoretical framework. These two elements (action and reduction of complexity) subsequently faded into the background or were displaced by later theoretical developments – as, for instance, in the transition to an emphasis on communication and observation – and the term trust was never fully reworked to reflect these later developments. Luhmann’s Social Systems (1984/1995), which set the benchmark for terms like communication and autopoiesis, sought to combine trust with the problem of double contingency, but no integration of the concept of trust can be found in his subsequent works. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 26

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Giddens framework: Luhmann abandoned trust as a core term just as Giddens was elevating ‘facework’ and ‘faceless commitments’ in his own theory of trust in expert systems.