From ze wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

"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' introduction to the first episode.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings. His influence on the twentieth century is generally considered profound. The series describes the propaganda that Western governments and corporations have utilized stemming from Freud's theories.

Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed. Freud's daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as is one of the main opponents of Freud's theories, Wilhelm Reich, in the third part.

Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy, commodification and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality.

The business and political world uses psychological techniques to read, create and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population.

Paul Mazur, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in the 1930s, is cited as declaring "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".

--END WIKI QUOTE--

Episode 1: Freud theorizes that humans are libidinous animals, not the rational beings that we claim to be. Bernays uses this discovery to sell things. Hitler uses it to unite his population and wage war. Roosevelt uses it to stop Hitler. Freud dies as the tanks roll into Czechoslovakia, believing that humanity is doomed.

Episode 2: American Big Business uses Freud's theories to sell people stuff. The hippie movement forms because they don't want to be part of The System, man.

Episode 3: After the failure of the hippie movement, the self-help movement forms as a new way to free the Self from Big Business's iron grip on the Freudian self. Once again, they fail and end up voting for Reagan when government picks up business's Freud techs.

Episode 4: The Left goes Freudian to elect Clinton and Blair, all political discourse is propaganda, politics dies.