Book: Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection
Author: Marissa King
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Price: Rs 799

Social networks — our evolving relationships with family, friends and colleagues — form the basic structures of human society. Marissa King’s book uses a vast array of research material in behavioural sciences to understand our psychological tendencies within social networks. While these structures are determined by the context of our individual lives, how we network with people around us can profoundly shape our relationships and, as a result, our personal and professional lives. Her primary argument can be summarized as follows: invisible threads of connection form the basic constituents of our social networks; how they play out in our everyday lives determines our successes and failures.

The book can be read as two separate sets of essays. The first part consists of the first four chapters where King attempts to establish three kinds of networks: Conveners, Brokers, and Expansionists. Conveners have a network of strong ties that is defined by a heightened sense of trust. The drawback of the convener’s network is that it is likely to be composed of homogenous groups and, consequently, may lack dissent or creativity. By contrast, brokers excel at connecting people from diverse professions and expertise, creating a community marked by creativity and innovation. However, given that brokers often connect distinct communities, they might be perceived as self-serving or instrumentalist within their networks. Expansionists are the rarest kind who are able to maintain numerous weak ties throughout their lives. But King is quick to point out that these three kinds refer to the structures of networks rather than some psychological essentialism in each of us. She also shows that while mixing different networking styles can help us achieve better results, “mixing styles comes with its own set of challenges.”

In the second half of the book, King attempts to understand these structures of network in various contexts. How can we build a perfect team? How do our bad experiences with rude team members lead to poor performances? Should we integrate our home and work lives or segment them further? Backed up by an enormous body of research, the book can be read both as a survey of behavioural psychology as well as a practical guide to understanding social relationships.

Given the ground that King covers in the book, readers expecting a deep dive into psychology would be disappointed. Furthermore, experiments that form the backbone of the book remain distinctly Eurocentric. While there are some insights into how social class, race and privilege shape the preconditions of our psychological tendencies, these moments are fleeting. Finally, reading the second half of the book during the pandemic is a bit unsettling. King observes that with an increasing dependency on social media, many of us are missing out on key components of social interactions that improve our quality of life. A brief chat, a handshake, eye contact — these passing moments in our everyday lives contribute to our physiological and mental well-being. With the majority of us practising physical distancing, one can only begin to imagine the toll the pandemic has taken on our collective mental well-being.

However, all is not lost. One of the key takeaways from King’s argument is that we have the power to change our social relationships. As we begin to ask ourselves deeper questions on how to reorient our social networks in a post-Covid world, Social Chemistry would be an excellent guide in that process.