Century of the Self

Century of the Self, is a great Adam Curtis documentary about how psychoanalysis has influenced post war america and its society. From the creation of Public Relations to Market Research, the aim is to train people to be led by their most inner desires and not by their rational needs.

He questions the roots of modern consumerism and representative democracy. If the individuals are driven by their inner desires & need of self expression being these fulfilled by products, what space is left to real democracy?

To quote the BBC site:
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?

Hope you enjoy.



1. Happiness Machines

2. The Engineering of Consent

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

4. Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering