Latent variable models assume averaging logic, which never represents weakest-link concepts.

Evidence

Concept-structure measurement fundamentally uses the mean. The numeric measures of the latent variables are weighted means of the indicators. The weakest link or the best shot concept structures are virtually never used. In contrast, in the basic framework these are common and often the default for secondary-level dimensions. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 311

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to concept-structure typologies (family resemblance, necessary-and-sufficient, weakest link) and to measurement theory critiques of factor-analytic indices.
• SEED: Angle: ‘Everything is an average’ — how the default mean in latent variable models smuggles in an aggregative ontology that many social concepts (security, capacity, development) actively reject.