Institute of East Asian Studies, Free University Berlin, Ehrensbergstrasse 26-28, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

Correspondence: David Chiavacci, E-mail: dachiava@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Received 14 January 2006; Revised 10 April 2006; Accepted 26 July 2006.

Abstract

Developmental capitalism is not only a question of a shared vision of economic nationalism and a shared strategy of national growth among economic and political elites, and their cooperation. Its success also depends on the degree of mobilization and integration in the population. Post-war Japan saw little continuity in the social basis of developmental capitalism, which was institutionalized in two steps following the socio-political crisis of 1960. In the first period of 1960–1973, national economic growth was redefined from a project for national greatness depending on individual sacrifice into a path of shared growth towards general well-being. Then, during the late 1970s and 1980s, the social basis was strengthened through the institutionalization of the Japanese way of life. The social basis of developmental capitalism in Japan is showing symptoms of stress. Provided that the current return to growth is not a short-term interlude, these symptoms may be overcome and an adapted version of developmental capitalism reestablished. However, in the medium term, demographic development and the end of general social upward mobility may well lead to a disintegration of the social basis of developmental capitalism.