That we might not trust those who have power over us, especially when they have little reason to care for us individually, is no surprise. I depend heavily on your favor, while you depend not at all on mine. You can therefore do me substantial harm, while I can do you little or none. The mutual trust that depends on reciprocal relations cannot easily develop in such unequal, nonreciprocal contexts.

XREF: Connects to research on power asymmetries in organizations, institutions, and principal-agent problems where dependence is one-directional.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 477