Trust extends kin-group loyalty outward to the whole society

Evidence

These considerations confirm our conjecture that, under the conditions set by civilized society, personal trust becomes a type of system trust in the ability of systems to maintain conditions or performances which are, within certain limits, identical. Other examples of system trust also show this characteristically reflex engagement with fictions that is functioning. For example, whether one is a member or outsider, one trusts large organized systems which process goods or data, although one knows that the objectives of these systems are not the goals of the people who work in them. Rather one knows that everyone concerned in them must be motivated by complex, prone-to-failure and not readily visible detours to produce four-fruit jam, insurance notices, or whatever. The purchasing power of money is trusted, although currency is known to rest on an overdraft, so to speak, and is not covered by a corresponding value in the institutions which issue the currency. It rests instead on the expectation, supported by experience, that not everyone wants to turn his money credits into real cash simultaneously. One relies on the fact that the state has the power to guarantee peace and make decisions about problems, although one knows that its power of coercion is not adequate to do these things, if a considerable percentage of the population were to rebel at the same time or refuse to recognize decisions. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 257 (#expands, via linked claim)

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)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Communal trustworthiness can seed willingness to trust in wider society — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 823; System trust rests on trusting that others also trust — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261; Trust historically extended far beyond the narrow modern friend circle (+12 more)

Related

• Under modern states, personal safety depends on patronage chains rather than kin groups (similarity 0.88)
• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust (similarity 0.87)
• Trust requires freedom be transferred from uncontrollable potency to institutionalized personal responsibility. (similarity 0.87)
• Social institutions function through trust only at the individual micro level (similarity 0.86)
• Widespread trust consists of pockets of dyadic relationships, not generalized sentiment (similarity 0.86)
• Personal trust becomes system trust under civilized conditions (similarity 0.86)
• Institutionalized money trust replaces countless individual acts of personal trust (similarity 0.86)
• Relying on collective trustworthiness is a collective, not merely individual, problem. (similarity 0.85)
• System trust rests on expectations that most won’t test the system (similarity 0.84)
• Widespread civility and flourishing civil society reduce to shared personal trust (similarity 0.84)
• Complex social systems cannot rest on individual feeling-based trust alone (similarity 0.83)
• System trust operates independently of individuals’ personal readiness to trust (similarity 0.83)
• Trust is regulated through symbol-feedback loops, not direct reality contact (similarity 0.83)
• Kinship provides reliable trust bonds regardless of personal sympathy. (similarity 0.83)
• Trust historically extended far beyond the narrow modern friend circle (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Personal trust becomes system trust under civilized conditions #expands (0.90) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 257
• System trust rests on trusting that others also trust #expands (0.85) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 261
• Widespread trust consists of pockets of dyadic relationships, not generalized sentiment #contradicts (0.85)
• Trust historically extended far beyond the narrow modern friend circle #corroborates (0.80)
• Trust grows out of the specific relationship between the parties #contradicts (0.80)
• Social institutions function through trust only at the individual micro level #contradicts (0.75)