A Contradiction in Society

Lately, while attempting to make important plans for the future, I have found myself forced to make preparations not to be affected by the lack of integrity of others. More specifically, I have had to evaluate the risk of being victim of others' dishonesty, laziness, indiscipline, irresponsibility, or carelessness--even when they are working under a contract.
At first I tried to dismiss those distrustful thoughts as cynical and irrational; but after evaluating the potential loss and inconvenience, I concluded that not preparing for this kind of adversity is foolishness.
Here I am dealing with a fundamental contradiction of the imperfect society: The term society comes from the Latin societas, a "friendly association with others," and from socius, meaning "companion, associate, comrade, or business partner." From this, we should be able to safely assume that any society is based on respect and trust for and among individuals. Unfortunately, that is the case only in a Utopian society.
With this I don't mean to say that there is a total lack of virtue and integrity in the world, but that there is a force of immorality, injustice, and lack of integrity of enough force to require a change.
I realize that it is unfair of me just to point out the problem, so I propose a solution. While it is impossible to force others to be virtuous, it is possible for one's self to choose to be virtuous; after all, individuals and families are the fundamental unit of society. As long as individuals promote and reward virtue, it will spread with the potential to become the dominant force in society.