Rank (social or otherwise) can be a signal for predictability from the perspective of consensus views for how to behave towards others with respect to the abilities or values being measured.

Ranking people for some sort of technical ability may be a better objective measure rather than ranking people on social status which is far less objective from a humanist perspective. In employment situations, individuals are more likely to rely on social and cultural biases and racist tendencies rather than on objective measures with respect to the job at hand. How can we better objectify the actual underlying values over and above the more subjective ones.

rank as signal processing