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")
online

Pandora's Box
(examines the dangers of technocratic and political rationality)
online

The Power of Nightmares
(political manipulation, the spectre of terrorism, neo-conservativism)
source

The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom
(the modern concept of freedom)
source

For sizzling dissections of modernity, see the documentaries of BBC filmmaker Adam Curtis. These multi-hour presentations trace the rise of phenomena like advertising, pesticides, nuclear power and modern economics. Inevitably these ideas and technologies prove to have side-effects that negate the cheery optimism with which they were born.