  This article reviews steady-state spin densities and spin currents in
materials with strong spin-orbit interactions. These phenomena are intimately
related to spin precession due to spin-orbit coupling which has no equivalent
in the steady state of charge distributions. The focus will be initially on
effects originating from the band structure. In this case spin densities arise
in an electric field because a component of each spin is conserved during
precession. Spin currents arise because a component of each spin is continually
precessing. These two phenomena are due to independent contributions to the
steady-state density matrix, and scattering between the conserved and
precessing spin distributions has important consequences for spin dynamics and
spin-related effects in general. In the latter part of the article extrinsic
effects such as skew scattering and side jump will be discussed, and it will be
shown that these effects are also modified considerably by spin precession.
Theoretical and experimental progress in all areas will be reviewed.
