ABSTRACT
SUMMARY. During a brief period, from perhaps 1943 to 1970, there appeared to be a consensus that social and cultural influences played a decisive role in the development of alcoholism. Increasingly thereafter, a belief in “clear” and “stunning” evidence for the heritability of alcoholism has taken hold in the scientific professions and research supporting agencies, and among alcoholism professionals and (not least) in the lay publics. This review attempts to make plain that the factual support for the present consensus is, at best, weak — and that the consensus in the main reflects a victory for ideology over rigorous scientific methodology and solid data, a triumph of fancy over fact, subversive of sound public policy.
