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In this article, we argue that social systems with fission–fusion (FF) dynamics are best characterized within a complex adaptive systems (CAS) framework. We discuss how different endogenous and exogenous factors drive scale-dependent network properties across temporal, spatial and social domains. Importantly, this view treats the dynamics themselves as objects of study, rather than variously defined notions of static ‘social groups’ that have hitherto dominated thinking in behavioural ecology. CAS approaches allow us to interrogate FF dynamics in taxa that do not conform to more traditional conceptualizations of sociality and encourage us to pose new types of questions regarding the sources of stability and change in social systems, distinguishing regular variations from those that would lead to system-level reorganization. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions’.