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operates as what James Hay calls a cultural apparatus for a “neoliberal form of
governing” (2000: 56).
Under the slogan “justice with attitude,” Judge Judy reconstructs the micro
politics of everyday life as resolvable morality lessons. The program fuses the
promise of due process (represented in the opening credits by a gently flapping
U.S. flag, a stately courthouse and a gavel-wielding judge) to a heightened
government of the self. Judge Judy does not subvert the waning ideal of
informed citizenship, as much as it constructs privatized, feminized citizen
subjectivities that complement and diffuse neoliberal policies among
subordinated groups excluded from the audience (white, male, upper-middle
class) for legitimated news and public affairs.
At a time when public institutions, government regulations and state-
funded social services are under attack, Judge Judy presents the dos and don’ts
everyday behavior as an urgent societal concern. The program presents the
privatized space of the simulated television courtroom as the most efficient way
to remedy everyday wrongs--but it also casts the litigants who appear as victims
or deviants who require scrutiny, guidance and reform.
In contrast, the imagined viewer at home is encouraged to self-govern her
daily affairs without the direct involvement of the court, the welfare office, or any
public institution for that matter. Doing requires implementing the moral and
Convention