5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The recent surge in the popularity of rank-based methods originates from the demand in economic research for a mathematical decomposition of univariate marginal distributions and the structure of statistical association in a multivariate context. This same need arises in social mobility research with categorical data, where it is referred to as the problem of margin-free association. In fact, such a need for margin-free measurement is widespread in social indicators research that almost always has a comparative dimension. Despite the gradual adoption of rank-based methods in the social sciences, it is crucial for RC55 researchers to understand these issues and the related methodological choices. We welcome submissions of papers that present or showcase rank-based methodological approaches for creating and analyzing social indicators that are comparable across different time periods, birth cohorts, social groups, or societies.