The development of intersubjective trust: Rules and practices

The stated purpose of this study was to understand more fully the everyday life world relationships between resident assistants and the students with whom they interact daily. Utilizing the conceptual frameworks of phenomenology and ethnomethodology, this study identified the constructive practices and interpretive rules of intersubjective trust. Intersubjective trust is a collaborative social action that is based in social practices. The contractual and contextual orientations are two distinct forms of intersubjective trust. From within the natural attitude actors utilize rules as interpretive devices. Interpretive rules are not normative but permit actors to understand the action sequences of the everyday life world.