Trustworthiness precedes and enables societal complexity

Evidence

Luhmann does not confuse trust and trustworthiness conceptually, because it is genuinely his interest to explain trust, which he supposes is the individual’s device for dealing with complexity—although, of course, the device can work only if others are trustworthy. My own trustworthiness does not directly help me deal with complexity, although it might do so indirectly by begetting trust. On this account, trustworthiness is, in a sense, prior. Hence there is reason to suppose that it is the rise of trustworthiness that allows for the development of complexity, which actually results from successful trust. Trustworthiness not only enables us to handle complexity when we have it, but it also therefore enables us to develop complexity. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 683

Categorization

• DEFINE: At the end of this chapter, these mid-tier selections collectively give some genuine credit for a thoughtful engagement with the material. Nothing else to add.
• XREF: Plugs directly into the reader’s Luhmann integration project: trust as the individual’s device for handling complexity, with trustworthiness prior — the mechanism by which society grows more complex rather than merely managing existing complexity. — connects to: Luhmann’s complexity reduction actually depends on trustworthiness, not trust; Trust without trustworthiness can lead to destruction rather than complexity reduction; Communal trustworthiness can seed willingness to trust in wider society — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 823 (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 683

Broader Connections

• Communal trustworthiness can seed willingness to trust in wider society #expands (0.75) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 823