5 quotes
The concept of rationality used throughout this study is at the heart of modern economic analysis, and it cannot be denied that it has great intuitive appeal; but closer analysis reveals difficulties.
Social Choice and Individual Values (1951)
If the total number of alternatives is two, the method of majority decision is a social welfare function which satisfies Conditions 2–5 and yields a social ordering of the two alternatives for every set of individual orderings.
Social Choice and Individual Values (1951)
If there are at least three alternatives which the members of the society are free to order in any way, then every social welfare function satisfying Conditions 2 and 8 and yielding a social ordering satisfying Axioms I and II must be either imposed or dictatorial.
Social Choice and Individual Values (1951)
From the point of view of seeking a consensus of the moral imperative of individuals, such consensus being assumed to exist, the problem of choosing an electoral or other choice mechanism, or, more broadly, of choosing a social structure, assumes an entirely different form from that discussed in the greater part of this study.
Social Choice and Individual Values (1951)
In this aspect, the case for democracy rests on the argument that free discussion and expression of opinion are the most suitable techniques of arriving at the moral imperative implicitly common to all. Voting, from this point of view, is not a device whereby each individual expresses his personal interests, but rather where each individual gives his opinion of the general will.
Social Choice and Individual Values (1951)