Works of popular psychology and popular sociology are differentiated from academic works of the same genres by their comparative accessibility to a broader audience and their flexibility of purpose and design. Works of "pop" psychology and sociology often appear on bestseller lists and win mainstream literary awards, while many of the most highly regarded and influential academic works in the same subjects may be known only to subject-matter experts in their fields. The rapidly growing popularity of pop psychology and sociology is a late-20th century phenomenon that persists into the present day. In terms of sales and influence, Gladwell is one of the most successful authors in this genre.

Successful pop psychology/sociology books take compelling concepts and theories from the academic realm and communicate them to mass audiences with a minimum of specialty jargon, or specialized language. Gladwell's communication of concepts such as broken windows theory and famous studies like the Stanford prison experiment in The Tipping Point demonstrates this process. He removes some nuance from his discussion of these subjects in adapting the original academic studies, but due to his efforts, many more people now understand basic insights about these studies than they would if the concepts had remained limited to an academic audience.