An m-of-n counting rule operationally identifies family resemblance concept structures.

Evidence

There is no one service that a state must (necessarily) provide to be a welfare state, but if the state produces “enough” of these services we classify it in the welfare state category. Operationally, Hicks (1999) defines a welfare state circa 1930 as one that provides at least three of the four following services: (1) unemployment compensation, (2) old age pensions, (3) health insurance, or (4) workman’s compensation. In sum, if the basic measure of the concept applies the m of n rule to classify objects, then it is using a family resemblance structure. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 259

Categorization

• DEFINE: Specifies the operational m-of-n rule and states the diagnostic link between that rule and family resemblance structure.
• SEED: Article angle: how quantitative indices (three-of-four, threshold scores) silently encode family resemblance rather than necessary-and-sufficient logic.
• XREF: connects to: Identity alignment requires perceived sufficiency of similarity rather than actual sameness — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 75