America Is ... We asked 17 columnists topick the one piece of culture thatbest captures the country. The show had grand ambitions: Jeff Probst, the host, repeatedly referred to “Survivor” as “the greatest social experiment.”Scroll to watch and read moreIt’s also a uniquely American experiment. Most strikingly, the show takes on — admittedly, in a ham-fisted way — the biggest divides in American society: gender, sexuality, race, age, class. One of the most admired and rewarded feats on “Survivor” is the blindside: voting off someone who thinks you are an ally. “Survivor” reminds us that living in our panopticon, with cameras in every pocket, we are content creators all, delivering a performance of ourselves.

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Persons: topick, ”, Jeff Probst, MeToo, Probst, can’t, Erving Goffman Organizations: Survivor Locations: America