Trust governs dealings only where kinship and contract cannot constrain others

Evidence

Trust is central to social life when neither traditional certainties nor modern probabilities hold —- in weak states or relatively lawless zones of public life, and in the transition to capitalism, especially in the mercantile sphere of circulation where credit is so important — but not as a basis for industrial production and division of labour. In other words trust is the negotiation of risk occasioned by the freedom of others, whom we know personally, to act against our interests in the relative absence of constraints imposed by kinship identity or legal contract. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2444

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines trust precisely as negotiation of risk posed by personally known others who are free of kinship and contract constraints.
• XREF: Directly glosses Luhmann’s ‘familiarity’ versus ‘confidence’ distinction — trust arises when others’ freedom (observable or not) creates risk. Also echoes Hardin’s point that trust needs constraints on opportunism.
• ADDENDUM: Supports the sacrifice/order essay thread by framing trust as residing in lawless interstices where constraints are absent — the state of nature into which Saramago’s blind society collapses.