Evaluative comparisons of distributions of a social variable: Ordering methods

A distribution of a social variable over a population assigns a level or value of the variable to each individual in the population. The present paper continues a study of methods of ordering distributions of a social variable that was begun in an earlier paper. The earlier paper addressed issues of meaningfulness of evaluative comparisons and then examined several fundamental criteria for social evaluation. The present paper focuses on a variety of methods of ordering distributions. It begins with additive extensions of a Pareto principle and then looks at a number of distributional dominance relations, all of which are based on individuals' preferences. Ordering methods that may be only marginally related to individuals' preferences are discussed in the latter part of the paper.

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