Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter describes how social injustice impacts mental health. Social systems of allocation confer more economic, political, and cultural opportunities and resources to some people than to others, systematically leading to unequal—and avoidable—mental health outcomes. The chapter discusses mental illness from an individualist view and a sociological view. It describes the association between social stratification and mental health. It also describes specific mechanisms of social injustice and mental health including social exclusion, poverty and income inequality, social class, gender and racial discrimination, and psychosocial and neo-material mechanisms. The chapter also demonstrates how mental health services can be a source of social injustice. Finally, it describes what needs to be done and an action agenda, including reframing issues of mental health among deprived and victimized populations to include civil and human rights and a public health approach.</jats:p>