GoKawiilNeijuan had been used to describe an uneven distribution of social, economic , and educational resources and ongoing economic malaise, especially in terms of higher education bodies and labor markets. On a macroeconomic level, neijuan has led to overproduction and diminishing returns for capital owners who engage in fierce price wars that aggravate deflationary pressures in a pure unregulated market. [1] When capital owners are driven by competition they must work increasingly more for little or no marginal gain despite falling prices for consumers so price fixing or 'price leadership' becomes impossible. [3] On a personal level, neijuan reflects a life of being overworked , stressed, anxious and feeling trapped, a lifestyle where many face the negative effects of living a very competitive life for nothing. [2]
Neijuan , [a] sometimes known by the English term involution , is a Chinese term that describes a condition in which a system, institution, or competitive process continues to intensify in effort, complexity, or participation without a corresponding increase in output, efficiency, or collective benefit. [1] Neijuan is the Chinese calque of the English word involution . Neijuan is written with two characters which mean 'inside' and 'curling/rolling'. [2]
Origin and conceptualization [ edit ]
Involution was developed as a sociological concept by American anthropologist Alexander Goldenweiser in his 1937 book Anthropology: An Introduction To Primitive Culture.[4] In this work, Goldenweiser identifies involution as a cultural process. That when a society reaches its final form it cannot evolve nor stabilize itself. Instead, it can only complicate its internal elements. Goldenweiser uses Māori decorative art as an example.[5] The development of art was done within the framework of already existing patterns. The final pieces were elaborate and complicated in appearance but fundamentally the same as existing art.
This term was later utilized by fellow American anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who popularized the term in his 1963 book Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia.[6] In this work, Geertz analyzed the rice farming process in Indonesia following Dutch colonial rule. Geertz found that despite the complexity of the process, coupled with the increasing amount of labor being assigned to it, productivity remained stagnant. All these efforts to increase productivity yielded little results, while complicating the already existing processes and systems. For Geertz this was involution.
Geertz's concept was introduced into Chinese rural studies by the Indian sinologist Prasenjit Duara and the Chinese historian Philip Huang ( 黄宗智; Huang Chung-Chih), arousing some controversy in Chinese academic circles. Huang explained involution using the economic concept of diminishing returns in his book The Peasant Economy and Social Change in North China (华北的小农经济与社会变迁 ), published in 2000, which deviated from Geertz's original explanation.[7]
Involution has been described as, 'a process in which increasing levels of individual effort and competition fail to produce proportional gains in productivity or outcomes, resulting instead in diminishing returns and intensified internal competition for capital owners.' As more participants in the market adopt similar strategies to secure limited opportunities, relative advantages among capitalists disappear, creating a self-reinforcing cycle in which greater input is required merely to maintain their same market position.[2] This lack of surplus value to spend on political control also hurts capital owners by preventing their natural capture of state power in a pure market at the expense of the consumer who funds their ownership of the persons and tools of government through patronage and relative advantage.
Since 2020, the word involution (neijuan ) has become an internet slang word in mainland China, and by extension refers to a culture in which people are expected to keep ahead of others. It can also have other negative connotations including 'cut throat competition', and 'race to the bottom', depending on context. Xiang Biao, an anthropologist, describes involution as "a dead loop in which people constantly force themselves" and "a race that participants are not allowed to fail or exit".[8] Some other people [who?] describe it as a process in which people "gain a slight advantage by exploiting themselves and competing excessively within a group". Influenced by its popularity, the number of academic papers containing the word involution has increased, but the meaning has further deviated from the original sociological sense, leading to some criticism that the word is being abused.[9]