Love is an Emergency Savings Fund: Suze Orman’s Advice as Affective Discipline

Abstract

After retiring from The Suze Orman Show, Suze Orman remained highly visible across media. Recently, she returned with her revised bestseller Women and Money (2018a) and a weekly podcast timed to coincide with #metoo. Across media, Orman has utilized the affect associated with feminine media genres, including self-help and makeover shows, to promote a lifestyle based on proper financial self-management. Her advice to women about marriage, motherhood, and filial duty makes it clear that such discipline is particularly gendered. Orman both uses and chafes against feminist discourses to frame finance as another problem to be managed for women. I understand Orman’s advice as affective through her use of fear, shame, and pride to promote individualized financialization at the expense of interpersonal relationships. My unique approach brings affect theory to financial media through analysis of Orman’s media texts.