Physiological and psychological interpretations of the causes of al coholism have been found insufficient to explain differences in rates of alcohol ism among various groups. Consequently, examination of the sociocultural backgrounds of drinking is needed to isolate those factors associated with high or low rates of alcoholism. One such finding is that, compared with members of low alcoholism groups, members of high alcoholism groups have conflicting attitudes toward drinking; the conflict is caused by the lack of integration of drinking customs with the rest of the culture. This finding is shown to be con sistent with ethnic and sex differences in rates of alcoholism.