Involution（内卷）：

In Chinese, it is pronounced as: nèi juǎn，Written as:

“Involution,” a term that has become popular online, originally described a phenomenon where a cultural pattern reaches a final form and can no longer stabilize or transform into something new, but instead becomes internally more complex. This term has been adopted by many university students to describe irrational internal competition or “compulsory” competition. Today, it refers to peers in an industry exerting extra effort to compete for limited resources, leading to a decline in the individual “effort-reward ratio.” This can be seen as an “inflation” of effort.

“Involution” has become a particularly popular word on Chinese internet in recent years, generally used to describe excessive competition in a certain field that leads to a state of mutual undercutting and internal consumption.

Involution describes an irrational state of internal competition, especially in social fields such as education and the workplace. When societal resources are limited and competitors are increasing, each person must exert more effort to obtain these limited resources. This effort is often excessive and irrational, leading to a decline in the individual “effort-reward ratio.” The phenomenon of involution manifests as people investing more time and energy to compete for limited resources or opportunities, but this investment does not lead to an overall improvement in benefits, instead intensifying the level of competition.

The phenomenon of involution is particularly evident in the field of education. For example, in college entrance exams, more and more students choose to attend various tutoring classes and do a large number of practice problems in hopes of standing out in the competition. This irrational competition requires every student to put in more effort, but the end result is that everyone’s scores improve without a substantial increase in admission slots, thereby increasing the students’ burden.

In the workplace, involution is also manifested as employees working overtime and sacrificing their personal lives for promotions and pay raises. Although this competition may seem diligent, it does not actually lead to improved overall efficiency, but rather causes health problems for the employees.