The invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for storing and elaborating user preferences for objects in response to a user's name. The invention associates a user's name with an entitlement expression that includes a reference to at least one membership map having preference information regarding the preference objects and associates with the preference objects a unique identifier that acts as an index into each membership map. The entitlement expression is evaluated for the user's name to determine a list of preferred objects for that user. The evaluation includes looking up the preference object's membership information in at least one membership map of preference using the preference object's unique identifier. The invention may further include at least one preferred group having a name, zero or more objects that are members of the preferred group, and a membership map for determining whether a particular object is a member of the group. The entitlement expression then refers to at least one membership map by including at least one group name in the entitlement expression.