Concept · Society
Involution (neijuan)
In plain English
In popular Chinese usage, intensifying competition that raises the effort required without improving the outcome — more hours, more tutoring, more credentials, for the same position. Borrowed from anthropology, where the technical sense is narrower: elaboration and intensification without qualitative transformation.
Literally
Inward rolling or curling in.
Commonly mistaken for
Not simply a synonym for being busy or for burnout. The point is structural futility: everyone must work harder merely to stay level, so the additional effort produces no collective gain.
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Chinese
· ·
involution; involutionisation; lying flat (the counter-response)
Related
Sources
- Clifford Geertz, Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia, University of California Press, 1963 — crediting Alexander Goldenweiser
- Philip C. C. Huang, on involution in Chinese agrarian history
- 《咬文嚼字》 2020年十大流行语, announced 4 December 2020
Review status. Sources verified against primary references, 1 August 2026.