Biomedical facilities across the US and worldwide aim to develop cost-effective methods for the reproductive management of macaque breeding groups, typically by housing macaques in large, multi-male multi-female social groups that provide monkey subjects for research as well as appropriate socialization for their psychological well-being. One of the most difficult problems in managing socially housed macaques is their propensity for deleterious aggression. Such aggression can readily escalate to the degree that it causes social instability, increases serious physical trauma leading to group dissolution, and reduces psychological well-being. Thus, for both welfare and other management reasons, deleterious aggression among rhesus macaques at primate centers and breeding facilities needs to be addressed with a more efficacious and proactive approach. Herein I review a new proactive approach developed by our research team using social network analysis to assess and predict deleterious aggression in macaque groups. We discovered three major pathways leading to instability, such as unusually high rates and severity of trauma and social relocations leading to group dissolution. These pathways are linked either directly or indirectly to network structure in rhesus macaque societies. We define these pathways according to the key intrinsic and extrinsic variables (e.g., demographic, genetic or social factors) that influence network and behavioral measures of stability. They are: (1) matrilineal genetic fragmentation (2) presence of natal males, and (3) power structure and conflict policing behavior supported by this power structure. I will discuss how these three major pathways lead us to a greater understanding of macaque social dynamics, allowing us to predict the onset of deleterious aggression in macaque social groups and develop appropriate strategies for its prevention.