Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Sociological approaches offer essential tools through which to make sense of mental health issues. This entry provides a critical synthesis and introduction to four core approaches within sociology to describing and analyzing the processes through which mental illness and related phenomena come to existence. Firstly, some explanations attend to the role of social positions (particularly relating to class, gender, and race/ethnicity) in producing distress. Secondly, the “stress paradigm” has built on the basis that “stressors” are often involved in the emergence of mental illness. Thirdly, labeling perspectives incorporate a more interpretive orientation to the effect of categorization and treatment on the development of mental illness. Finally, cultural perspectives offer a further way of making sense of patterns of mental distress and their cultural meanings in various geopolitical contexts.</jats:p>