Whether readiness to trust is achieved more through emotion or more through flexibility of self-presentation, in every case it rests on the structure of the system which confers trust. Only because the security of the system is structurally guaranteed is it possible to do away with the safety precautions for particular actions in specific situations. Readiness to trust is an important instance of the general rule that the absorption of complexity through structures can relieve the burden of action.

DEFINE: Clarifies Luhmann's concept of trust as resting on system structure rather than individual or emotional guarantees.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 297