Distrust in a world in which others are untrustworthy does, of course, protect one against losses that would follow from taking the risk of cooperating with others. But it can wreck one’s own opportunities in a society or context in which others are generally trustworthy. The meaningful result of trust, when it is justified, is to enable cooperation; the result of distrust is to block even the attempt at cooperation. Trust is functional in a world in which trust pays off; distrust is functional in a world in which trust does not pay off.

XREF: Connects to the reader's understanding of social capital, game theory (prisoner's dilemma), and how individual risk-aversion interacts with collective trust environments.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 458