8.5/10280 votes#1 - 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: N/A
8.4/10199 votes#2 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/10171 votes#3 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10159 votes
#4 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Century of the Self Season 1
Every episode of The Century of the Self Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Century of the Self Season 1!
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...
Genres:DocumentaryWar & Politics
Network:BBC Two
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Happiness Machines" is the best rated episode of "The Century of the Self" season 1. It scored 8.5/10 based on 280 votes. Directed by Adam Curtis and written by N/A, it aired on 3/17/2002. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Engineering of Consent".