M.A. / The present investigation aims to provide a profile of the social factors, which may have an influence on the relapse of alcoholics. The following questions are to be answered in the study: (a) Which social risk factors play a role in the relapse of alcoholics? (b) Are these factors related to the alcoholic’s immediate environment or wider societal factors? (c) What role does the alcoholic’s anonymous service or lack thereof play? The five relapsed alcoholic patients who went for outpatient for several times, at SANCA in Johannesburg and the five family members comprise the research sample. To each of these clients the researcher administered an interview schedule in order to obtain information pertaining to the relapse. The majority of clients are unemployed because they were retrenched from their work due to their relapse rates. Most clients have one or more family members who are alcoholic. Most clients are apparently socially isolated from their families. Most clients fail to complete the defined treatment programmes at SANCA in Johannesburg due to the distance they have to travel from Alexandra to Johannesburg. From the findings pertaining to the staff in the investigation it is revealed that Social Workers are the professionals most involved in rendering out-patient treatment to alcoholics. In conclusion it is proposed that administrators of out-patient alcoholism clinics expend more energy in structuring comprehensive programmes of intervention for clients. It is also recommended that there be more Social Workers in Alexandra dealing with the problems of alcoholics. There must be an Alcoholics Anonymous and a treatment centre in Alexandra so that the relapse rate of alcoholics must go down. / Dr. W. Roestenburg