In class we discussed the small world phenomenon and how it was highly possible to relate one person to another in an average of six degrees. This article disputes that concept. According to Kleinfeld, Milgram fails to account for some of the information given by his experiment. The first dispute comes over the completion rate of chains during Milgram’s small world experiment, which was reportedly only 29%. That meant that although those that did connect did so in around 6 steps, 71% of the starters never reached the target. This isn’t to say that they couldn’t reach the target but perhaps it would have taken them longer as the chains never even finished.

            In subsequent studies Milgram’s experiments showed large gaps among racial and social classes. In one of his later experiments Milgram selected starters from high, middle, and low income groups in Ohio and gave them targets in Los Angeles. Though the article does mention that the completion rates were to low to give any true information, it was noteworthy that no lone income starter completed a chain to any target other than another low income person. It would seem that social affluence (aka larger income) makes people easier to target. This was also a problem with Milgram’s original experiment. He chose an affluent stockbroker in Boston. He would be much more likely to be highly connected, whereas if someone more isolated were chosen the separation would be greater.

            He did just such an experiment. The target was the wife of a divinity student. 60 documents were started in Wichita, Kansas. Of the 60 only 3 reached the woman with and average path length of 8 which is substantially longer than the popular 6 degrees. Milgram’s later experiments also encountered a racial divide. He used white starters in Los Angeles and both black and white targets in New York. 33% of white targets received the package whereas only 13% of the black targets were reached. These numbers show an obvious racial divide in the six degree theory. It is hard to explain exactly why any of these events occurred. Milgram’s six degree theory may be correct but there are so many other factors that seem to have been completely unaccounted for.