Editing Small-world network (section)

=== Applications to sociology ===
The advantages to small world networking for [[social movement| social movement groups]] are their resistance to change due to the filtering apparatus of using highly connected nodes, and its better effectiveness in relaying information while keeping the number of links required to connect a network to a minimum.<ref name = "shirky">{{cite book | vauthors = Shirky C | author-link = Clay Shirky | title = Here Comes Everybody: the power of organizing without organizations | publisher = Penguin Press | date = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-59420-153-0 | oclc = 168716646 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/herecomeseverybo0000shir }}</ref>

The small world network model is directly applicable to [[affinity group]] theory represented in sociological arguments by [[William Finnegan]]. Affinity groups are social movement groups that are small and semi-independent pledged to a larger goal or function. Though largely unaffiliated at the node level, a few members of high connectivity function as connectivity nodes, linking the different groups through networking. This small world model has proven an extremely effective protest organization tactic against police action.<ref name ="finnegan">Finnegan, William "Affinity Groups and the Movement Against Corporate Globalization"</ref> [[Clay Shirky]] argues that the larger the social network created through small world networking, the more valuable the nodes of high connectivity within the network.<ref name= "shirky"/> The same can be said for the affinity group model, where the few people within each group connected to outside groups allowed for a large amount of mobilization  and adaptation. A practical example of this is small world networking through affinity groups that William Finnegan outlines in reference to the [[1999 Seattle Protests|1999 Seattle WTO protests]].