Abstract
The accumulated corpus of studies of trust is based on the assumption that trust makes democratic and economic activities productive and efficient. This article explores the possibilities of a functional approach to trust through a reconsideration of the trust theory of Luhmann. His approach to trust is functional involving a comparison of trust itself with other functional equivalents. However, in the studies based on his trust theory, only his concept of trust is considered, while his approach itself neglected. To empirically describe social problems using his approach, it is necessary not to assume that trust is something good, to compare it with other functional equivalents, and to examine how an individual problem is constructed.
