ABSTRACT
Substantial impetus for control of alcohol and, explicitly, for the reduction of alcohol consumption, already exists in the context of attempts to reduce drunk driving. Additional evidence from criminological ethnographies and biographies suggests some support for the general notion that alcohol use and criminal activity are not related. Socioeconomic approaches focus on the economic structure of society and the disadvantaged position that many individuals find themselves in. Subculture-of-violence approaches focus on the diversity of cultural and normative behavior and expectations existing at any one time in a large, diverse society. Arguments concerning the role alcohol may play vis-a-vis a black subculture of violence are necessarily complicated by evidence concerning drinking patterns by race and by theoretical and empirical evidence on the racial composition/homicide relationship. Despite common knowledge about the relationship between alcohol and violence, and well-known research findings such as that of Wolfgang’s, social scientists have given precious little attention to this relationship.
