The effect of various factors on the inception and growth of crazing is reviewed and some of the similarities between crazing in plastics, exposure-cracking in rubber, and stress-cracking in metals are described. Various examples of stress-crazing in transparent plastics are presented and the stress-strain behavior reported for crazed, noncrazed, and oriented material. Rate of propagation of crazing also has been investigated. The test results indicate that penetration of crazing cracks in polystyrene can be represented over a limited stress range by a linear function of both time and stress magnitude. Some measures advocated for avoiding the undesirable effects of crazing include use of special coatings, annealing, and establishment of working stresses based on onset of crazing rather than on static fracture.