Trust requires that the risky relationship be avoidable
Evidence
Secondly, the action and hence the risks are avoidable: one does not have to engage in trade with another firm (although this implies forgoing the potential benefits of trade). Being able to avoid the relation is fundamental. If you could not, you might say something like: ‘I have no choice but to trust this person, institution, etc.’ Clearly, there being no choice, we need not invoke trust to explain our behaviour. Of course, as Luhmann (this volume) points out, whether or not a relation is seen to be avoidable is often highly subjective, and presumably varies in accordance with the structure of institutions and political power. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2510
Categorization
- DEFINE: Establishes avoidability as the third necessary condition of trust.
- XREF: Directly cites Luhmann on the subjectivity of avoidability — a bridge to the reader’s core theoretical synthesis. — connects to: Staying with an abuser reflects lack of options, not trust — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 943; Trust requires the trusting party also hold a choice to withdraw; Building mutual trust requires confronting risk rather than avoiding it (+1 more)
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2510