Naming the missing attribute lets a diminished subtype increase differentiation rather than reduce it

Evidence

Because diminished subtypes represent an incomplete form of democracy, they might be seen as having fewer defining attributes, with the consequence that they would be higher on the ladder of generality and would therefore provide less, rather than more, differentiation. However, the distinctive feature of diminished subtypes is that they generally identify specific attributes of democracy that are missing, thereby establishing the diminished character of the subtype, at the same time that they identify other attributes of democracy that are present. Because they specify missing attributes, they also increase differentiation, and the diminished subtype in fact refers to a different set of cases than does the root definition of democracy. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 532

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Reverses the intuition that fewer defining attributes must mean greater generality and less differentiation — the specificity of what is absent does the differentiating work.
• SEED: Angle: ‘Why describing what something lacks can be the most precise description of all’ — absence-attributes as an underused analytical tool across typologies.