Bio: (1946-) American sociologist and psychologist. Karen Cook began teaching at the University of Washington, where she began collaborating with Richard Emerson on the theoretical and experimental development of network exchange theory and rational choice theory. She researched power in exchange in networks, distributive justice, as well as phenomena of cooperation and trust. Together with Emerson, she researched how network structure affects the dependence, power, and commitment of network members. In Cooperation Without Trust (2005), Cook discusses how trust between actors affects the "power-dependence relations" (Emerson) that exist between them. She believes that the relations of social exchange (in marriage, at work, or in friendly relations) contain mutual dependence, which can be defined as a relationship of "encapsulated interest". The notion of encapsulated interests refers to the trust that one actor (individual or collective) places in another actor because he (or she or them) believes that the other actor accepts the interests of the first actor and unites those interests with his own interests. Cook believes that if there is unequal power in a relationship, it is difficult to develop trust because the relative power of the actors will affect the way they experience the relationship. This theoretical approach to the relationship of power and trust can be applied to individuals, as well as to relations between organizations or between states.

Main works

„Advances in the Microfoundations of Sociology: Recent Developments and New Challenges for Social Psychology”, u Contemporary Sociology (2000);

Social Capital: Theory and Research (2001);

Trust in Society (2001);

Trust and Distrust in Organizations: Emerging Perspectives (2004);

Cooperation Without Trust (2005);

eTrust: Forming Relationships in the Online World (2009);

Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America (2021).