Beyond Capitalism

Abstract

Abstract It is often said that capitalism needs non-capitalist ethics and institutions for its survival. Japan has a historical reluctance to separate morals and economy, which may account for the limited impact of neoliberalism. Chapter 8 explores this from three perspectives. First it considers Japan’s ‘social and solidarity economy’ (SSE), including the role of cooperatives, as well as labour organizations. Second, it turns to NPOs, taking up two specific cases, as well as networks formed in the wake of Japan’s triple disaster, some of them focused on digital transformation. Finally, returning to capitalism, it looks at corporations as social enterprise, as well as alternative visions of capitalism within Japan. The chapter highlights Japan’s ‘horizontal’ economy or SSE, which is typically overlooked in both top-down developmental state and mainstream economic writing.