involution

Example Sentences

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Originally an anthropological term, "involution", or "neijuan" in Chinese - literally translated to an inward curling - refers to a social concept where population growth does not result in productivity or improved innovation.

From BBC

On the Chinese internet, the term that has captured the mood is “involution,” previously used by anthropologists to describe agrarian societies that grew in size or complexity without becoming more advanced or productive.

From Seattle Times

He had irreplaceable knowledge about the programming that supported current practice, one weapons designer told anthropologist Hugh Gusterson, who published a paper on the topic of scientific involution across generations of nuclear science.

From Salon

Every corner we turned made R. gasp, every church we stepped into, every statue with its marble frothed up like surf, like the involutions of thought.

From The New Yorker

The breasts eventually go through a process called involution that returns them to their pre-pregnancy state and involves massive cell death and tissue remodeling.

From New York Times