In this chapter, I discuss a range of key ideas, concepts and theories which continue to influence academic enquiry in the sociology of mental health. I provide such a narrative because I believe we are currently in danger of losing what made our research different and sometimes unique compared to other disciplines; this happens when sociologists lose their capacity for critical thinking and, as I will return to later here, abandon any traces of social theory in their work. So, this chapter aims to do three things: firstly, it is a timely reminder of what some of the key scholars in the area have previously theorised regarding psychiatry and the mental health system; secondly, it demonstrates the ongoing significance of this classic work on current sociological scholarship; and thirdly, it looks forward, to suggest ways in which we can continue to use the sociological imagination in our research to rescue the sociology of mental health from turning into a sub-discipline of social psychology, social anthropology, medical history, critical psychiatry, social policy studies, or social work. In line with the broader aims of this book, focused as it is on sociological analyses of psychiatry and society, I am not only performing an archaeology of the sociology of mental health here, but also offering a critical manifesto—a view of how and where we should be working in the years to come. I want us to stop apologising for being sociologists in this area, to caution my fellow colleagues against unnecessary collaborations which can lead to the weakening of our research, and to generally stem the tide of diluting critical scholarship.