Why Is Involution Not a Problem?

Recently, involutionInvolution has become such a buzzword, especially in cyberspace, that it has become a hot issue in real life. People use involutionInvolution to describe politics, economics, and academic research, as well as all phenomena with similar characteristics. However, when we take a closer look at this concept, we find that it is only a description of the features of the phenomenon itself rather than a penetrating analysis of its nature. The difference is clear when we compare it with Marx’s class struggle, Bourdieu’s habitusHabitus, and Giddens’ structuration. If this is the case, why is this term or concept still so popular? In a sense, it may be because it complies with the needs of information dissemination in the Internet era—it is vivid and novel enough to be easily labeled, so it has quickly become a buzzword.