Involution in Everyday Life: Understanding and Examples

Involution is a frustrating yet common phenomenon that affects individuals and communities. It involves a repetitive and sometimes meaningless activity that, despite its apparent simplicity, often leads to no tangible benefit while causing significant harm. This article explores the concept of involution and provides real-life examples, with a focus on life in suburban neighborhoods and the complex dynamics of job qualifications.

What is Involution?

Involution, in its purest form, is a cycle of activities that does not yield any real progress. It is a repetitive and often pointless endeavor that, due to social pressure or competitive dynamics, becomes a norm, even though it is not advantageous for everyone. Involving a group of people working towards a goal that ultimately leads them back to where they started, involution often stems from the misalignment of individual and collective interests.

Suburban Leaf Blower Example

Let’s examine a clear-cut example of involution in action: the common practice of suburban leaf blowing. On a typical Sunday morning in a US suburb, all the dads wake up early, grab their leaf blowers, and set to work clearing leaves from their yards. However, the leaf blowers inevitably cause the leaves to blow into neighboring yards, resulting in an endless cycle of leaf removal.

Despite the noise, smell, and waste of time and energy involved, everyone ends up right where they started. The reason they all partake in this activity is that if anyone refuses, their neighbors’ leaves end up in their yard. This situation is detrimental to everyone involved; it burns gasoline, causes noise pollution, and ultimately wastes people’s time. Instead of sleeping in or engaging in more productive activities, they are forced to perform this redundant task.

Stopping the Cycle

The key to breaking this cycle is communication and collective agreement. If all the dads decided to stop blowing leaves because they agreed that it was a futile and pointless activity, they would all be much happier. But the dynamic of social pressure often prevents such a group decision. It only takes one person, or “jerk,” to want the leaves cleared and thus restart the cycle. Ironically, this person ends up with the same task despite their initial desire to circumvent it.

Involution in College Degrees

A parallel example can be seen in the inflation of college degrees in the job market. Historically, a college degree has been seen as a valuable credential, signifying a level of education and preparation for a job. However, as more and more people obtain these degrees, the competitive advantage they provide diminishes. Employers start to require degrees for positions that might not objectively need them, leading to a situation where having a degree becomes a prerequisite, even if it does not reflect the candidate’s actual skills or performance.

This phenomenon is often driven by cyclical thinking in the labor market. Once enough people hold degrees, employers can become selective and reject applicants without degrees. This, in turn, forces other job seekers to obtain degrees to remain competitive, even though the degree itself does not add direct value to their job performance. This cycle is particularly evident in the higher education sector, where the number of graduates has increased significantly, and the job market has not kept pace.

Conclusion

Involuntary involvement in seemingly pointless activities, whether it is leaf blowing or obtaining college degrees, highlights the underlying complexity of group dynamics and competition in modern society. Understanding the concept of involution is crucial for recognizing and challenging such cycles. By fostering open communication and critical thinking, individuals and communities can work towards breaking these cycles and finding more meaningful and productive ways to use their time and resources.

Exploring and analyzing these examples can help us recognize the signs of involution in our lives and take steps to avoid or mitigate its negative impacts on our personal and professional lives. Whether it’s reducing unnecessary activities or reevaluating educational requirements, understanding involution can lead to more effective and fulfilling outcomes.