The Century of the Self
The Century of the Self is a BBC documentary series tracing the influence of Freudian ideas and
the family of Sigmund Freud on the way corporations and governments throughout the 20th century have thought
about, and dealt with, people.
To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy,
where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are
they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth
of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created,
by whom, and in whose interests? (from bbc.co.uk)
The Century of the Self: Episode 1 - Happiness Machines
This episode tells the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses.
The Century of the Self: Episode 2 - The Engineering of Consent
The episode explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.
The Century of the Self: Episode 3 - There is Policeman Inside All Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed
This episode shows how Wilhelm Reich's ideas - the inner self should to be encouraged to express itself - rapidly developed in America through self-help movements into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation.
The Century of the Self: Episode 4 - Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
This episode explains how politicians on the left, in both Britain and America, turned to the techniques developed by business to read and fulfil the inner desires of the self.
| Web. | The Century of the Self Further info on the acclaimed series examining the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty. www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml |
| Film.. | Sigmund Freud This contains a list of links to eBooks and documentary films related to Sigmund Freud who changed the way the world viewed sexuality and who created the clinical method of psychoanalysis. www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/biography/sigmund-freud.html |
| Film | Pandora's Box This is a six part BBC documentary series produced by Adam Curtis, examining the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism. www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/social-science/pandoras-box-adam-curtis.html |