Trust in trust takes four distinct reflexive forms with different risks

Evidence

The individual can trust his own trust, just as he can feel his feelings or think about his thinking. Furthermore, he can trust that others trust him, and finally that others trust third parties in the same way as he does. The possibilities for application, the risks and the consequent problems all vary according to which type is chosen. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 259

Categorization

• DEFINE: Taxonomy of trust-in-trust types: trust in own trust, trust in others’ trust of me, and trust that others trust third parties.
• XREF: The third type — trust that others trust third parties the same way I do — parallels Giddens’s point about how institutional confidence is collectively reproduced, and Stevens’s assumption that others share his reverence for Darlington.