The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year.
Trust and Sociability: On the Limits of Confidence and Role Expectations
Abstract
A bstract Trust is distinguished from confidence in that the latter rests on knowledge or predictability of the alter's actions, while trust is necessary to maintain interaction in the absence of such knowledge. While confidence may have many different bases, trust is a preeminently modern phenomenon, resting, ultimately on the self‐regulating, autonomous individual. It emerges concomitantly with the moral privileging of the private realm and of individual conscience. Contemporary developments associated with late or postmodern culture and society are however calling into question this model of the individual and with it the potential for trust to exist beyond the realm of regulations and constraints. V ladimir I lych L enin is said to have remarked: “ Vertraun ist gut, Kontrol noch besser ”–trust is good, but control is much better. In this saying we find what I think is a distinction critical to any preliminary understanding of trust‐that is, the distinction between trust and confidence ( control in Lenin's terms). Control or confidence is what you have when you know what to expect in a situation; trust is what you need to maintain interaction if you do not. 1
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“In that sense, confidence-unlike trust-emerges when an individual believes that the person or system she interacts with does not have the agency to betray her expectations [43]; p. 397).”
From Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance (2020) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Crucially, it also enables the entering into of contracts, promises and obligations without always relying on the presence of third-party enforcement [46]; p. 4) and as such, the existence of confidence allows for there to be freedom of action without coercion.”
From Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance (2020) · cites this paper as [46]
In the citing paper
“As such, confidence also depends on general knowledge about the existence of sanctions from higher-order expert systems [43].”
From Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance (2020) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“Interactional law, so defined, can only exist in systems with solidified role expectations that provide a high degree of confidence regarding individuals' behaviours [43]; p. 394).”
From Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance (2020) · cites this paper as [43]
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
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Cited by
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Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance
De Filippi, P., Mannan, M., & Reijers, W. (2020) · Technology in Society · doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101284 · Cited by 406
Donor Trust and Relationship Commitment in the U.K. Charity Sector: The Impact on Behavior
Sargeant, A., & Lee, S. (2004) · Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0899764004263321 · Cited by 206
Metadata
- Authors
- Seligman, A. B.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Seligman, Adam B.
- ORCID
- Seligman, Adam B.
- Venue
- The American Journal of Economics and Sociology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1998-10
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 391-404
- ISSN
- 0002-9246 (ISSN-L)
- 1536-7150
- OpenAlex
- W1951021953
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 5.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Economics and Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory
- Keywords
- trust, confidence, sociability, individual autonomy, self-regulation, individual conscience, private sphere, moral individualism, postmodern culture, control, social interaction
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- The paper
- Seligman, A. B. (1998). Trust and Sociability: On the Limits of Confidence and Role Expectations. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1998.tb03372.x
