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*The Century of the Self*
The Century of the Self
	Title screen
Written by	Adam Curtis
Directed by	Adam Curtis
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Stephen Lambert
Producers	Adam Curtis; Lucy Kelsall;
Cinematography	David Barker; William Sowerby;
Running time	240 mins (in four parts)
Production companies	RDF Television; BBC;
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	17 March –; 7 April 2002

The Century of the Self is a 2002 British television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. It focuses on the work of psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud, and PR consultant Edward Bernays.^[1] In episode one, Curtis says, "This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy."

Episodes


No	Title	Broadcast Date	Notes
1	"Happiness Machines"	17 March 2002	^[2]
2	"The Engineering of Consent"	24 March 2002	^[3]
3	"There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads; He Must Be Destroyed"	31 March 2002	^[4]
4	"Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering"	7 April 2002	^[5]

Overview

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed our perception of the mind and its workings. The documentary explores the various ways that governments, global organizations and corporations have used Freud's theories. Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed in part one. His daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychoanalysis, is mentioned in part two. Wilhelm Reich, an opponent of Freud's theories, is discussed in part three.

To many in 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. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

BBC publicity.^[6]

Along these lines, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of consumerism and commodification and their implications. It also questions the modern way people see themselves, the attitudes to fashion, and superficiality.

The business and political worlds use psychological techniques to read, create and fulfill the desires of the public, and to make their products and speeches as pleasing as possible to consumers and voters. Curtis questions the intentions and origins of this relatively new approach to engaging the public.

Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a group, Stuart Ewen, a historian of public relations, argues that politicians now appeal to primitive impulses that have little bearing on issues outside the narrow self-interests of a consumer society.

The words of Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in 1927, are cited: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."^[7]

In part four the main subjects are Philip Gould, a political strategist, and Matthew Freud, a PR consultant and the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud. In the 1990s, they were instrumental to bringing the Democratic Party in the US and New Labour in the United Kingdom back into power through use of the focus group, originally invented by psychoanalysts employed by US corporations to allow consumers to express their feelings and needs, just as patients do in psychotherapy.

Curtis ends by saying that, "Although we feel we are free, in reality, we—like the politicians—have become the slaves of our own desires," and compares Britain and America to 'Democracity', an exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair created by Edward Bernays.

Contributors

Dr Alfred Pritz, President, World Council for Psychotherapy
Countess Erzie Károlyi
Edward Bernays (interviewed 1991)
Pat Jackson, PR adviser and colleague of Edward Bernays
Peter Strauss, employee of Edward Bernays 1948–52
Peter Solomon, investment banker, Lehman Brothers
Stuart Ewen, historian of public relations
Dr Ernst Federn, Viennese psychoanalyst
Anne Bernays, daughter of Edward Bernays
George Gallup Jr., pollster
Marcel Faust, resident of Vienna, 1930s
Prof. Martin Bergmann, psychoanalyst, US Army 1943–45
Ellen Herman, historian of American psychology
Anton Freud, Anna Freud's nephew
Michael Burlingham, Dorothy Burlingham's grandson
Dr Robert Wallerstein, psychoanalyst, Menninger Clinic 1949–66
Dr Harold Blum, psychoanalyst
Dr Neil Smelser, political theorist and psychoanalyst
Fritz Gehagen, psychoanalyst and employee of Ernest Dichter
Hedy Dichter, wife of Ernest Dichter
Bill Schlackman, psychologist and employee of Ernest Dichter
Larry Tye, journalist, Boston Globe
Howard Hunt, Head of CIA Operation, Guatemala, 1954
Dr Heinz Lehmann, psychiatrist and colleague of Dr Ewen Cameron
Laughlin Taylor, assistant to Dr Ewen Cameron 1958–60
Linda MacDonald, patient of Dr Ewen Cameron
Dr John Gittinger, Chief Psychologist, CIA, 1950–74
Celeste Holm, actress and former patient of Dr Ralph Greenson
Dr Leo Rangell, Los Angeles psychoanalyst
Dr Alexander Lowen, experimental psychotherapist, 1950s
Morton Herskowitz, student of Wilhelm Reich 1949–52
Lore Reich Rubin, Wilhelm Reich's daughter
Robert Pardun, student activist, 1960s
Herbert Marcuse (interviewed 1978)
Stew Albert, founding member of Youth International Party
Michael Murphy, founder of Esalen Institute
George Leonard, leader, Encounter Group, Esalen Institute, 1960s
Dr William Coulson, leader, Nuns' Encounter Group
Daniel Yankelovich, Yankelovich Partners Market Research Inc.
Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminars Training
Jesse Kornbluth, journalist, New Times, 1970s
Jerry Rubin, founder of Youth International Party (interviewed 1978)
Jay Ogilvy, Director of Psychological Values Research, SRI International, 1979–88
Amina Marie Spengler, Director, Psychological Values Research Programme, 1978–86
Jeffrey Bell, speech-writer to Ronald Reagan, 1976–81
Christine MacNulty, program manager, Values and Lifestyles Team, SRI International 1978–81
Robert Reich, economist and member of Clinton cabinet 1993–97
Matthew Wright, tabloid journalist 1993–2000
Mario Cuomo, Governor, New York 1982–95 (archive)
Philip Gould, Strategy Advisor for New Labour election campaign 1997
Dick Morris, Strategy Advisor to President Clinton 1994–96
Mark Penn, Market Researcher for President Clinton 1995–2000
Douglas Schoen, Market Researcher for President Clinton 1995–2000
James Bennet, Washington correspondent, The New York Times
Derek Draper, assistant to Peter Mandelson 1992–95