This book explores the concepts of 'risk' and 'trust' that are theoretical tools and arguably major facets of late modernity. New conceptions of trust and risk are rapidly changing theoretical knowledge bases of social science disciplines. A sociologically informed understanding of risk and trust illustrates the interconnectedness of an ageing population and social welfare. From this perspective, risk and trust are more than a calculation of costs and benefits, they are theoretical mechanisms for weighing different sets of political and economic orientations. Drawing from comparative examples, the text assesses the implications of risk and trust for how people in general, and older people in particular, are made welfare subjects in contemporary society.