{{Short description|2002 British documentary series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{For|the 2009 album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead|The Century of Self{{!}}''The Century of Self''}} {{Infobox television | image = The Century of Self Titles.jpg | caption = Title screen | image_size = 240 | director = Adam Curtis | executive_producer = [[Stephen Lambert (media executive)|Stephen Lambert]] | producer = {{ubl| Adam Curtis | Lucy Kelsall}} | writer = [[Adam Curtis]] | cinematography = {{ubl| David Barker | William Sowerby}} | company = {{ubl| [[Zodiak Media|RDF Television]] | [[BBC]]}} | network = [[BBC Two]] | first_aired = {{Start date|2002|03|17|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|2002|04|07|df=y}} | runtime = 240 mins <small>(in four parts)</small> | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_episodes = 4 }}
'''''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]].<ref>{{Cite news |last= Adams |first= Tim |date= 10 March 2002 |title= How Freud got under our skin |url= https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/mar/10/medicalscience.highereducation |newspaper= [[The Observer]] |accessdate= 13 January 2013 }}</ref> 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 == {| class="wikitable" |+ !No !Title !Broadcast Date !Notes |- |1 |"Happiness Machines" |17 March 2002 |<ref>{{cite magazine |date=14 March 2002 |title=The Century of the Self - BBC Two England - 17 March 2002 |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/594b009c8a1942f691d718b572403367 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520215911/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/594b009c8a1942f691d718b572403367 |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 May 2016 |magazine=[[BBC Genome]] |issue=4071 |pages=86 |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref> |- |2 |"The Engineering of Consent" |24 March 2002 |<ref>{{cite magazine |date=21 March 2002 |title=The Century of the Self - BBC Two England - 24 March 2002 |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/1e9db3ca2ad74097a23bae28284180ca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916202110/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/1e9db3ca2ad74097a23bae28284180ca |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 September 2016 |magazine=BBC Genome |issue=4072 |pages=80}}</ref> |- |3 |"There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads; He Must Be Destroyed" |31 March 2002 |<ref>{{cite magazine |date=28 March 2002 |title=The Century of the Self - BBC Two England - 31 March 2002 |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/adeb3d4cfd724127887b06476a6316ac |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916201459/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/adeb3d4cfd724127887b06476a6316ac |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 September 2016 |magazine=BBC Genome |issue=4073 |pages=82}}</ref> |- |4 |"Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering" |7 April 2002 |<ref>{{cite magazine |date=4 April 2002 |title=The Century of the Self - BBC Two England - 7 April 2002 |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5248b8e26fc34eaca688758d099d3432 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917043426/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5248b8e26fc34eaca688758d099d3432 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 September 2016 |magazine=BBC Genome |issue=4074 |pages=70}}</ref> |}
== 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.
{{Quote box | quote = 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? | source = BBC publicity.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml|title=BBC Four Documentaries - The Century of the Self |work=[[BBC Online]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514032526/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml|archivedate=14 May 2011 }}</ref> | width = 20% | align = left}}
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 [[Instinct|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."<ref>Note: the quote is from a 1927 article by Mazur in the ''[[Harvard Business Review]]''.</ref>{{Failed verification|talk=Validity of Mazur quote from Harvard Business Review|date=April 2025}}
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 (United States)|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== {{Columns-list|colwidth=20em| * {{langx|de|[[:de:Alfred Pritz|Dr Alfred Pritz]], President, [[World Council for Psychotherapy]]}} * Countess Erzie Károlyi * [[Edward Bernays]] (interviewed 1991) * Pat Jackson, [[Public relations|PR adviser]] and colleague of Edward Bernays * [[R. Peter Straus|Peter Straus]], employee of Edward Bernays 1948–52 * [[Peter J. Solomon|Peter Solomon]], investment banker, Lehman Brothers * [[Stuart Ewen]], historian of public relations *{{langx|de|[[:de:Ernst Federn|Dr Ernst Federn]]}} , Viennese psychoanalyst * [[Anne Bernays]], daughter of Edward Bernays * [[George Gallup Jr.]], pollster * Marcel Faust, resident of Vienna, 1930s * Prof. [[Martin S. Bergmann|Martin Bergmann]], psychoanalyst, US Army 1943–45 * Ellen Herman, historian of American psychology * [[Walter Freud|Anton Freud]], Anna Freud's nephew * Michael Burlingham, [[Dorothy Burlingham]]'s grandson * [[Robert S. Wallerstein|Dr Robert Wallerstein]], psychoanalyst, [[Menninger Foundation|Menninger Clinic]] 1949–66 * Dr Harold Blum, psychoanalyst * [[Neil Smelser|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 * [[Heinz Lehmann|Dr Heinz Lehmann]], psychiatrist and colleague of [[Donald Ewen Cameron|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 [[Ralph Greenson|Dr Ralph Greenson]] * Dr Leo Rangell, Los Angeles psychoanalyst * [[Alexander Lowen|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 (author)|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 * [[Jeff Bell (politician)|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 [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] cabinet 1993–97 * [[Matthew Wright (television presenter)|Matthew Wright]], tabloid journalist 1993–2000 * [[Mario Cuomo]], Governor, New York 1982–95 (archive) * Philip Gould, Strategy Advisor for [[1997 United Kingdom general election|New Labour election campaign 1997]] * [[Dick Morris]], Strategy Advisor to President Clinton 1994–96 * [[Mark Penn]], [[Market research|Market Researcher]] for President Clinton 1995–2000 * [[Douglas Schoen]], Market Researcher for President Clinton 1995–2000 * [[James Bennet (journalist)|James Bennet]], Washington correspondent, ''[[The New York Times]]'' * [[Derek Draper]], assistant to [[Peter Mandelson]] 1992–95 }}
==Music== * [[Aaron Copland]]: ''[[Billy the Kid (ballet)]]'' * [[Arvo Pärt]]: ''[[Spiegel im Spiegel]]'', ''[[Für Alina]]'', ''[[Fratres]]'' * [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]: ''[[24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)]]'', Prelude 1 (C major) * [[Gene Austin]]: ''[[My Blue Heaven (song)|My Blue Heaven]]'' * [[Johannes Brahms]]: ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)|Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90]]'', beginning of the third movement (poco allegretto) * [[Kano (band)|Kano]]: ''She's a Star'' (from the album [[New York Cake]]) * [[Louis Armstrong]]: ''[[What a Wonderful World]]'' * [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]: ''[[Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis]]'' * [[Raymond Scott]]: ''Portofino 2'' (from [[Manhattan Research Inc.]]) * ''[[The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)]]'' (from the film ''[[Gold Diggers of 1933]]'') * [[Ennio Morricone]]: ''Quelle foto'' (from the film ''[[Le foto proibite di una signora per bene]]'') * [[Felix Slatkin]]: ''The Green Leaves of Summer'' * [[The John Barry Seven]]: ''Hit and Miss''
== Awards == *Best Documentary Series, [[Broadcast Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/bbc-cleans-up-at-broadcast-awards-2003/1108929.article|title=BBC cleans up at Broadcast Awards 2003 |work=[[Broadcast (magazine)|Broadcast]] |accessdate=22 October 2015}}</ref> *Historical Film of the Year, History Today Trust Awards<ref>{{cite web|last=Furtado|first=Peter|date=March 2003|title=Back to Narrative at the History Today Awards|url=http://www.historytoday.com/peter-furtado/back-narrative-history-today-awards|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924044105/https://www.historytoday.com/peter-furtado/back-narrative-history-today-awards|archive-date=24 September 2015|access-date=22 October 2015|work=[[History Today]]}}</ref>
Nominated for: *Best Documentary Series, Royal Television Society<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rts.org.uk/award/programme-awards-winners-2002 |title=Programme Awards Winners 2002 |work=[[Royal Television Society]] |date=14 March 2011 }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> *Best Documentary Series, Grierson Documentary Awards *Best Documentary, Indie Awards
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{BBC programme}} *{{IMDb title|id=0432232|title=The Century of the Self}} * ''[http://reviewsindepth.com/2010/01/the-century-of-the-self-bbc-documentary-by-adam-curtis/ The Century of the Self – BBC Documentary (by Adam Curtis)]'' by Dan Haggard in ''Reviews in Depth,'' 25 January 2010 * '''Episode guide:''' *# ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514032531/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_1.shtml Happiness Machines]'' at BBC Online (archive copy) *# ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514032536/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_2.shtml The Engineering of Consent]'' at BBC Online (archive copy) *# ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514032542/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_3.shtml There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed]'' at BBC Online (archive copy) *# ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514032559/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_4.shtml Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering]'' at BBC Online (archive copy)
{{Adam Curtis|state=expanded}} {{Sigmund Freud}} {{Edward Bernays}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Century of the Self, The}} [[Category:2002 British television series debuts]] [[Category:2002 British television series endings]] [[Category:2000s British documentary television series]] [[Category:BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century]] [[Category:2000s British television miniseries]] [[Category:Cognitive biases]] [[Category:Self]] [[Category:Works about public relations]] [[Category:Films about philosophy]] [[Category:English-language British television shows]]