Giddens begins this section of the book talking about trust. He specifically focuses on Luhmann’s views on trust. Giddens doesn’t think Luhmann’s take on trust is helpful to link the notion of trust to the specific circumstances in which individuals consciously contemplate alternative courses of action. What made that individual make that decision? Is he or she in a situation that forced them to take a certain course of action over another? Those are some questions that Giddens believes cannot be answered by Luhmann’s view on trust. Giddens argues that trust is a form of confidence; they are not different. There is a need for trust because of the absence of time and space. “The prime condition of requirements for trust is not lack of power but lack of full information” (33). You wouldn’t need to engage in trust if everything happened right in front of you. Since things are happening all around the world due to globalization, there are things that you don’t know which force you to put your trust into other people and expert systems.
Disembedding systems depend on trust. Let’s say you are shopping online and order clothes from a website. You have to trust the expert systems that are involved in getting you your clothes. What Giddens doesn’t really go into though is what happens when trust fails. What if your clothes never arrive? Then what? One explanation could be that there was a flaw in the expert systems that were designed to get you your clothes. Also what must be done for you to gain that trust back?
Giddens begins to explain that modernity and tradition are contrasts of each other. This makes sense seeing as how modernity is defined as the development of modern scientific worldviews and the termination of tradition. But you can’t sanction a principle because it is traditional. Tradition can be justified but only with knowledge that is not traditional itself. Because of this, tradition continues to play a big role in modernized societies.
Giddens defines post-modernism as “styles or movements within literature, painting, the plastic arts, and architecture” (45). Basically post-modernism is something different and moves away from the ways of modernity and towards a new type of social order. Giddens argues that post-modernity does not exist. “To speak of post-modernity as superseding modernity appears to invoke that very thing which is declared (now) to be impossible: giving some coherence to history and pinpointing our place in it” (47). He believes it is too difficult to understand history and declare what place we are in history, which is why it is impractical to say that we are in post-modernity. We have not moved beyond modernity but are living through a phase of it.
Globalization & Modernity (77) 
I really liked how you spent a lot of time talking about the section defining “trust.” Particularly, I found it extremely insightful when you said, “Since things are happening all around the world due to globalization, there are things that you don’t know which force you to put your trust into other people and expert systems.” I agree with this statement, and I think that we can all relate to this on a personal level. A small example in my daily life would be something as simple as purchasing clothes online. I regularly put my trust in the company, and the internet itself that my information will not be disclosed. Giddens further explains this type of trust by saying, “The prime condition of requirements for trust is not lack of power but lack of full information” (Giddens 33).
I think that the terms discussed in this section help us all to agree upon the fact that we are still living through modernity, as you mentioned in your blog post. Thank you for the detailed clarification of this section as it was extremely helpful!
Morgan Pudimott
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I really enjoyed your post and your own interpretation of what trust means and how (sometimes) Giddens can simplify an otherwise more complicated, and philosophical-like concept. When you write, “What Giddens doesn’t really go into though is what happens when trust fails. What if your clothes never arrive? Then what?” I had to look back into the book and see if that was definitely something he overlooked. He does mention it somewhat when he writes, “We also have to consider circumstances in which trust lapses and how situations of absence of trust might be best understood”(p.54). Earlier in the chapter he mentions the intertwining of risk and trust, and that in some views, trust is more of calculated risk because you have to know a little about what could possibly go on before making that initial agreement. In your example of a person who does not receive their clothes, do you think it may be better understood as someone who put their confidence in X company, rather than a trust in said company? There is no possible way to understand all of the mechanisms that go into creating and shipping a parcel, but if that is your first time ordering from X company, what foundation would you have to build that trust upon? Maybe you could establish a trust relationship from hear-say, or reviews on the internet, but it could be very contingent on the situation provided. I thought your example brought up even deeper questions that Giddens touches upon very lightly.
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You analyzed the second half of the first chapter in a very effective manner and provided a helpful interpretation of the text. The way in which you related disembedding systems and trust showed that you understood for the most part what you were reading. Your interpretation of the quote on page 47 was very informative and explained Giddens’ thought process. It went as follows, “He believes it is too difficult to understand history and declare what place we are in history, which is why it is impractical to say that we are in post-modernity. We have not moved beyond modernity but are living through a phase of it.” That explanation helped further Giddens’ belief that post-modernity is not a proper term to use when describing the period of time in which we live in. However, it may have been helpful if you included that post-modernism is a term that can be applicable to arts and literature in some cases, which is a topic that Giddens discusses towards the end of the first chapter. For the most part, this blog was both very conducive and enlightening.
-CP
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Your analysis of Giddens viewpoint on Luhmann’s definition of trust further assisted me in finding what I believe to be “trust”. While reading, I did not pay much attention to when Giddens explained that “the prime condition of requirements for trust is not lack of power but lack of full information” (pg. 33). Nevertheless, when you stated that one “wouldn’t need to engage in trust if everything happened right in front of you”, this concept became more essential. Especially because, like you said, globalization continues to call for our society to have and to be trusted.
I am very intrigued by your observation that Giddens does not extensively explain what occurs when trust fails. Although I know that when trust fails there are generally negative repercussions, I am curious as to what Giddens believes these repercussion would consist of. Do you think that Giddens believes that “trust” holds our population from reaching modernity? Furthermore, do you agree with Giddens when he claims that “We have not moved beyond modernity but are living precisely through a phase of its radicalization.” (pg. 51)?
Amanda O’Keeffe
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Matt,
Great job of thinking through some of the gaps here. As you point out: “What Giddens doesn’t really go into though is what happens when trust fails. What if your clothes never arrive? Then what? One explanation could be that there was a flaw in the expert systems that were designed to get you your clothes. Also what must be done for you to gain that trust back?” At the end of the Introduction, Giddens writes: “The relation between trust and disembedding mechanisms remains abstract here. We have to investigate later how trust, risk, security, and danger articulate in conditions of modernity” (54). Your example is a useful one–I wonder how it helps us tackle these issues.
DM
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