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Documentary•
War & Politics

All Episodes of The Century of the Self

BBC Two

Browse all episodes of The Century of the Self

All Episodes of The Century of the Self

The legacy of famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud informs the lives of people throughout the world even to this day, though it's a phenomenon to which...
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Season 1

  • Happiness Machines
    8.5/10285 votes

    Happiness Machines

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 3/17/2002

    The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

    Director: Adam Curtis

    Writer: Unknown

  • The Engineering of Consent
    8.4/10203 votes

    The Engineering of Consent

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/24/2002

    The programme explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown

  • There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads. He Must Be Destroyed
    8.4/10174 votes

    There Is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads. He Must Be Destroyed

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/31/2002

    In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas in America. They were inspired by the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of Freud's, who had turned against him and was hated by the Freud family. He believed that the inner self did not need to be repressed and controlled. It should be encouraged to express itself.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown

  • Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering
    8.2/10162 votes

    Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 4/7/2002

    How both the Labour Party in Britain and the Democrats in America have sought to gain power through use of the focus group, invented by psychoanalysts to fulfil desires of the inner self.

    Director: Unknown

    Writer: Unknown