ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on an ideational rivalry within the Japanese elite, and the concept of systemic support has been offered as the solution to the puzzle. It tackles the research puzzle, “why has Japan’s financial disintermediation lost momentum since the mid-2000s despite its financial deregulation during the 1980s and 1990s” by adopting Gramscian approaches in tandem with sociological, psychological, and philosophical concepts. The first key to solving the puzzle is to recognize the administrators of the 1940 system created and promoted anti-liberal, anti-free market social norms closely linked with Japanese society’s emphasis on strong ties, prevention orientation, and guardian morals. The second factor, subordinates’ consent to social norms established by dominant elites, enabled Japanese society to form a counter-hegemony under American financial hegemony. The last factor, an ideological contestation between key institutions, is another hallmark of Gramscian approaches.
