The involution effect of the social dilemma of standing still

Mondo Health Updated on 2024-01-19

2023 Annual Stocktake

Involution, a term originally used to describe the smallholder economy on the island of Java, has now become a unique perspective on the state of life in modern society. It reveals a phenomenon: in the case of limited resources, people are constantly trying to survive, but they fall into a cycle of more and more misfortune the harder they try. This phenomenon exists not only at the social level, but also at the organizational and individual levels, forming a social phenomenon known as the "involution effect".

The root cause of the involution effect lies in the lack of motivation for innovation. In a closed system, everyone is working hard, but the output of the system is not increasing, but because of excessive competition and pressure, everyone's quality of life is decreasing. It's like a car stuck in a quagmire, and no matter how much you press the gas, you can't move forward.

At the social level, the involution effect is manifested in the excessive consumption of resources and the destruction of the environment. In our pursuit of economic growth, we have overexploited natural resources and destroyed the ecological environment, but this growth has not led to a real improvement in well-being, but has made our lives more difficult. At the same time, excessive competition has also made social contradictions increasingly acute, and the relationship between people has become more and more tense.

At the organizational level, the involution effect is manifested in the overwork and lack of innovation of employees. In order to pursue profits, enterprises require employees to work overtime, but this excessive labor does not bring about an increase in efficiency, but instead makes employees physically and mentally exhausted, and greatly reduces their ability to innovate. At the same time, the competitiveness of enterprises has not been improved, but because of the neglect of employee welfare and innovation, the development prospects of enterprises have become bleak.

At the individual level, the involution effect manifests itself as excessive effort and waste of potential on the part of the individual. In order to achieve success, we keep trying, but we ignore our own interests and potentials, and fall into a cycle of more and more misfortune the harder we try. We are becoming more and more negative about our work and losing enthusiasm for our lives.

The involution effect is a self-extricating dilemma that requires us to fundamentally change our way of thinking and behaving. We need to abandon excessive competition and pressure and pursue balance and harmony. We need to focus on innovation and reform, break the old framework, and find new development paths. We need to focus on personal development and well-being, discover our potential, and pursue real success.

In general, the involution effect is a profound social problem, which reveals that we have neglected the all-round development of people and the sustainability of the environment in the pursuit of economic growth and social progress. We need to face up to this problem and find solutions to achieve true sustainable development.

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