現在“內卷”這個詞頻繁出現，引發大家熱烈的討論，甚至已經火到了國外。

這篇CGTN的文章裡對“內卷”involution做了界定：

Involution as a social concept was introduced by anthropologists to describe a process of inward overelaboration in agricultural development， where population growth did not result in growth in productivity or a more advanced economic model。

Without significant breakthroughs, society spirals into a state of internal friction, with increased complexity but not expansion.

內卷是人類學家引入的社會概念，用來描述農業發展中的內向過度勞動過程，在這個過程中，人口增長並沒有導致生產力的增長或更先進的經濟模式。如果沒有重大突破，社會就會陷入內耗狀態，複雜性增加，但不會擴張。

我們可以看看外網怎麼報道中國的內卷話題：

可以看到，內卷被翻譯成了“involution”。

這篇文章說：There are two main aspects that define this particularly Chinese brand of involution： the intense competition， and the inescapability。 中國式內卷有兩個主要特點：競爭慘烈，無法逃避。

In 2020， Chinese

netizens（網友）

widely popularized a once-obscure academic term： neijuan， or

involution

。 Frustrated by

never-ending competition over limited opportunities

and

working lives with little perceivable value

， people from all walks of life interpreted the concept according to the various pressures in their own lives。 From university students failing to find employment to mothers struggling to keep up with their children’s educational

rat races

， neijuan

resonated with

a nation contending with

decelerating economic growth

and

massive inequalities

。

這段話建議反覆閱讀，可以說把問題說得比較清楚了。

經濟增長減緩，不平等加劇，為了有限的機會要做無止盡的競爭，能不卷嗎？

總之，其實內卷involution這個概念原本就有，只是現在被用來指代社會問題了，在跟外國友人解釋“內卷”的時候，說出involution這個詞，應該已經可以明白大半了。