The core phenomenon of schizophrenia is best conceived in terms of the Bleulerian concept of autistic alienation. The contributions of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Wittgenstein allow us to arrive at a new ‘philosophy of interpersonal relatedness’, which better reflects the ‘embodied mind’ and signifies the end of Cartesian dualistic thinking. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit neurobiological and clinical evidence of social brain dysfunction. They find themselves seriously disadvantaged in the social arena and particularly vulnerable to the stresses of their complex social environments. Farmer (2005) has used the term ‘structural violence’ to describe the social, economic and political forces such as poverty, inequality, racism and discrimination that influence people's health. These forces shape both the landscape of risk for developing illness and the context in which health-care is provided. The concept of structural violence is relevant to schizophrenia since low socio-economic status, income inequality, urbanicity, homelessness and migration are factors that increase risk for the disorder. Furthermore, poverty and inequality are associated with earlier age of onset, longer duration of untreated psychosis, increased comorbidity and poorer access to services – all variables impacting negatively upon onset, course and outcome of schizophrenia. Taken together, these observations call for a human rights perspective on schizophrenia in society. At-risk individuals suffer increased alienation, more severe psychosis and greater disability in response to toxic social forces such as deprivation and exclusion. This constitutes a violation of the human rights of those predisposed to and suffering from serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia.