Significant progress has been made during the past decade in incorporating micromechanics in continuum descriptions of inelastic deformation. This has led to the development of a rather comprehensive constitutive theory for rate-dependent and idealized rate-independent crystalline materials that deform plastically by crystalline slip. This theory is reviewed in some detail and examples are presented which illustrate how complex slip phenomena involving localized plastic flow and nonuniform crystallographic texture can be analyzed. The paper concludes by suggesting that it is now possible to develop accurate models for rate-dependent polycrystals undergoing arbitrarily large strains. Such models would have as principal aims the prediction of texture development and the rigorous assessment of such anisotropy on constitutive behavior. An example of how this would be of immediate value in analyzing strain-hardening behavior of metal polycrystals at large strains is provided.