Amazon.com description: Product Description: A critical introduction to literature on mental health and illness of relevance and interest to undergraduate sociologists. The sociological analysis offered of this material should also be of particular relevance to mental health professionals from a wide variety of disciplines. Questions of race, age and gender are addressed, along with explorations of work on psychiatric treatment, the mental health professions, the organization of mental health work, legalism and service users. The book begins with an examination of the competing perspectives about mental health and illness, which have contributed to multiple understandings and terminologies, both inside and outside of sociology. A recognition of these diverse perspectives informs the way in which subsequent chapter topics are explored.