The Century of the Self (2002) - a BBC Documentary Series

"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." - Adam Curtis, the author of "The Power of Nightmares".
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?



Brief descriptions for each episode:

1 Happiness Machines

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.

2 The Engineering of Consent

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.

Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind.

3 There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

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.

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.

Both New Labour, under Tony Blair, and the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group, which had been invented by psychoanalysts, in order to regain power. They set out to mould their policies to people's inner desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learnt to do with products.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc...ures/century_of_the_self.shtml


LINKS
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.1of4.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.1of4.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.1of4.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.1of4.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.1of4.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.2of4.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.2of4.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.2of4.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.2of4.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.2of4.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.3of4.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.3of4.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.3of4.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.3of4.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.3of4.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.4of4.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.4of4.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.4of4.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.4of4.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/27...ury.of.the.Self.4of4.part5.rar


Another great documentary by A...;The Power of Nightmares"