Generalized trust is, at best, like trust in government in the following sense: We are merely confident that most of those with whom we might interact will be at least moderately trustworthy. It is not truly generalized but has scope constraints. Those who rely on generalized trust for explanations of various things must grant that their claims depend on context. Hence they are saying, for example, that middleclass Americans are likely to be trustworthy with respect to certain kinds of things, so that other middle-class Americans can relatively safely rely on them.

DEFINE: Clarifies that 'generalized trust' is not truly universal but bounded by context and social group.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 807