Whose capitalism? Mean discourse and/or actions of the heart

Capitalism conventionally is represented from the Right and Left by a discourse that is devoid of issues of emotion and ethics and their materialization in caring, emotional practices. I take as axiomatic that avoidance of empirics, as in mainstream normative economics, is problematic, and I develop a sympathetic critique of, and alternative to, the dominant Leftist perspective that does recognize actions of the heart, but situates them outside capitalism. The critique is sympathetic because the ethical sensibilities are the same. However, ontologically I argue that rationality and emotion are interrelated, not separate. Further, I refuse the location of emotional practices outside capitalism. These ontological differences derive from different epistemological approaches. I advocate a relational approach that accounts for how practices can diverge from expected behavior given by discourse, as well as a mode of accounting that gives voice to those who lack capital yet figure in capitalist life. Identifying the relation between actions of the heart and the mean discourse of capitalism helps explain social relations and offers a framework towards the construction of political projects to enact transformational change.