“The misuse of vocabulary has either eliminated a value, a perspective, or a precise classification.’Involution’ and ‘Acceleration’ is covered with a thick atmosphere of despair, lost the color of cause analysis, and formed a kind of’tragic description’.” This article is from WeChat public account:See ideal (ID: ikanlixiang ) , author: Hou Chen, from the head of FIG: “Doctor strange”
The cost of missing and misusing a word is greater than we thought.
For example, in the previous article, we gave an example. If the default meaning of the term “public knowledge” already includes “with the purpose of guiding public opinion” and publishing “insincere criticism” and “blind faith in Western theories”, we will basically be destroyed In addition to all complaints, public speeches with even basic value analysis will be regarded as “carrying private goods.”
The rest is basically praise, complaint and jungle society.
The vocabulary is not as rich and flexible as we think. We can’t change the meaning of the vocabulary at will or change the word to express it when the vocabulary is abused and misused.
What other word can you change to know? An expert? It is strange to use words like experts to describe liberal arts intellectuals, especially their comments on social and political phenomena. Of course, this also explains a flood of “liberal arts uselessness”. Moreover, the overemphasis of the word “expert” will further aggravate the atmosphere of “expert worship”, which is a serious modernity problem.
Therefore, when the term “public knowledge” is completely destroyed, we have to accept the default “stigmatization” of a type of speech. There are many similar abuses of vocabulary, such as “Primary Family”, “PUA”, “Three Views”, and “Female Boxing (the homophonic use of right)“.
Misuse or elimination of vocabularyTo eliminate a value, either a perspective or a precise classification is eliminated.
We always believe that “thoughts in the head” are the most important. Vocabulary is just a symbol. Eliminating the vocabulary does not affect my thinking. In fact, we have this idea in our minds precisely because there is such an ideographic space in a set of vocabulary systems. Once this space is lost, the so-called “thoughts in the brain” no longer exist.
Therefore, it is important to save these words. Today we will talk about the two most mentioned and abused words in the past six months, “involution” and “acceleration”. Hopefully, some precious inspirations can be saved from them.
1. The life of a typical inscriber
Before analyzing, I will use an example to describe a very typical “involution”.
Mr. A is farming and raising chickens in rural areas, and plans to expand the scale after raising chickens for one year, but this scale is not yet able to adopt large-scale mechanization and automation. It takes more time and energy to expand the scale, but it can also increase income.
The purchase price of chicken meat has not risen for a long time, and the time Mr. A can invest is also naturally limited. There are only 24 hours a day, and the income ceiling is very obvious. Therefore, Mr. A sold all the equipment and went south to work. The main income in the factory was piece rate wages. He did more and earns more. Therefore, his shifts increased and his working hours continued to increase, but after all, there was no complaint.
As he grows older, the high-intensity work at the factory gradually becomes unsustainable, so he goes to the city to work as a food delivery man and uses the money he saved to buy electric cars and batteries. The food delivery staff also do more work, but the leisure time in the morning and afternoon is rare and easy. It is not as strong as the factory, and the income is good. It seems to be much more reasonable than the factory work. .
He didn’t have anything left until he couldn’t even sustain the takeaway job. Of course, this simple story is not wonderful and bizarre. It basically summarizes the life trajectory of many agricultural populations.
The concept of “involution” in this story is not about summing up how hard he is and how miserable he is, or summarizing the competitive pressures of various jobs. This concept needs to answer a question, a question that is meaningful to us.
Why has he never wanted to change the model, but has been doing this kind of piecework income? Like most of us, why didn’t you want to change your work track or mode?
This question is the question and perspective that we lose when we misuse the “involution”.
II. Reminder of the internal volume
The concept of “involution” originated from Gertz’s “Involution of Agriculture”, and the original term originated earlier. Corresponding to the inner volume(involuton) is evolution(evolution) It may be better to use “internal growth” and “external growth” to understand this group of concepts. Today we will start with problem awareness.
Geertz used this concept to answer why in Indonesia, the populous island of Java did not develop in the direction of capital and technology intensive like other nearby islands, but continued to develop in the direction of labor intensive?
On such a macro level, “involution” must answer the question of why a regional economic model has not “evolved”. This is very similar to the famous “Needham Problem”, that is, why didn’t the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution happen in modern China?
Of course, a macro-level “evolution” problem can also be applied to the micro-level personal life. After all, in the era of individualism, everyone’s interest is the dilemma of individual life. Although this narrowness is a problem in itself, it is not what we are dealing with today.
We can also ask the same question about the life trajectory of an individual, why is Mr. A always doing piecework income instead of opening a supermarket and a small business like the people around him. Perhaps Mr. A also has questions as he grows older. If he opened a supermarket at that time, would he still be able to continue to provide himself with income instead of having to stop working as he does now.
Geertz’s answer to Java Island, regardless of whether it truly reflects Java’s problems(Whether the Needham Problem is a false proposition is debatable), but it does give a perspective on individual life worthy of reflection.
The main agricultural crop in Java is rice, which is the rice we usually eat. Rice is a very special crop, very different from wheat. Rice has very high requirements for water, soil, temperature and sunlight. The term “intensive farming” is derived from rice cultivation. Therefore, the per mu yield of rice has a considerable range, ranging from 300 kg to 1,000 kg. The more input, the higher the yield per mu may be. Such phenomena and logic were also the basis for the pursuit of extreme rice yield per mu during the Great Leap Forward.
In other words, the rice planting logic is somewhat like a piece rate, and you do more. Therefore, the population growth of the islanders of Java is used for more and more sophisticated rice planting, and everyone has a good job. income. As the saying goes, “Think about change if you are poor,” but if income can be maintained, there is naturally no urge to carry out technological reforms or capitalize operations.
The implication is that if there is a promising model, the model itself will be quite rigid and difficult to change. From chicken farming to factory to takeaway food delivery staff, piece-rate work has quite clear hope, so this Mr. A has never thought of changing his working mode.
Therefore, the concept of “involution” reminds a kind of “rigidity of mode”. It is a kind of slow growth that will suppress our urge to change until it is too late.
It was discovered in 1993. A short article “Development” written by the famous economist Schumpeter in 1932 gave us a more understandable perspective. He distinguished growth (Growth) and (Development).
In this case, if we understand the concept of “involution”, it can be said that stable and visible growth (growth) will inhibit Really novel development (development).
This is of course the same in personal career development. Many easy jobs with steady income growth and “golden rice bowl” will lead to people not thinking about making progress and not realizing their own development.
3. The dilemma of our title “Internal Volume”
Of course, the “inner scroll” frequently used in the past six months does not mean this at all.
The “involution” that everyone uses daily does not look back at the stagnation of a development model, but rather describes a current “difficulty”. Probably it means to pay too much for competition. In other words, instead of doing really meaningful things, they are constantly repeating some meaningless things to deal with competition.
Of course, the term “involution” has a greater meaning than “intensified competition.” It is a mixture of the meaning of “inside” that has no way out and is suppressed and enclosed, and the meaning of “rolling” in which it is drawn and sucked in madness. In addition to showing the “intensified competition”, the inner scroll also has a very clear sense of “meaningless”, “ridiculous” and “trapped”.
Furthermore, the “involved” vocabulary has obvious value judgments. This is a very dangerous value judgment, that is, “malicious”, obviously subjective maliciousness. In a state called “involution”, the methods that people take to deal with competition are “subjective and malicious.”
Looking at it this way, “involution” is a replacement for “stratum consolidation”, and indeed when the term “involution” is frequently used, we see that the term “stratum consolidation” has become more frequent Reduced.
If we say that “classification” is explaining the causes of our life problems, and thus proposes the necessity of “breaking the classification”, then it can be said that “involution” means despair. And the horrible vocabulary of this state itself.
This is what we want from the term “involution”, a release and vent of language. This vocabulary sums up all our current feelings as the scarcity of resources, the fierce competition, and the malice and absurdity of people in the competition.
This, of course, has almost the opposite meaning to the original “involution”. The reason for the initial “involution” is precisely that the current situation is good and the model is still sustainable; and now it has become an unsustainable model , There is no other choice of despair.
Of course this is not a reality. For onlinePeople who are skilled in using “involution” on the Internet are either students or urban youths who are still interested in knowledge in metropolises. They should actually be the ones who are deeply trapped in the old “involution”, that is, there is still expected growth in life(growth) people.
People who really fall into the absurd and malicious competition, if you have read Liang Hong’s “Leaving the Liangzhuang Village”, the migrant workers who are really struggling to survive in the cracks of the city, I am afraid that they still don’t know how to “involve” such a remote vocabulary.
So why are the real problems of urbanites obscured? I think it is because they have used another concept-acceleration.
four, real acceleration
As fashionable as “involution”, the term “acceleration”, a concept that should provide insight and inspiration for life, is once again expressed as flimsy despair.
Geertz who put forward the concept of “involution” is not a particularly well-known and accomplished scholar, but the most famous critical theorist of the new generation of Frankfurt School, Hartmut Rosa, who put forward the concept of “acceleration” . The concept of “acceleration” is also a new direction of the theory of “alienation” in contemporary Marxism.
But people’s daily use of the term “acceleration” completely deviates from the direction Rosa himself wants to criticize, and enters a meaning that is quite related to the “involution” of daily use.
“Accelerated” nowadays probably simply means “accelerated deterioration”, and accelerated deterioration itself carries an expectation that things will have to go bad, and believe that if things do not change to the worst, it is impossible to usher in the change “Means.
Of course, this activist attitude is not just a commoner’s conjecture. After Rosa’s social critical theory of “acceleration” was published, in 2013 the American scholar Nick Srnicek (Nick Srnicek) and Ah Lex Williams (Alex Wiliams) based on Rosa’s theory, published the “Declaration of Accelerationism” and believed that only to promote acceleration The process can lead to the disintegration of the late capitalist society as soon as possible to enter a new era.
It can be said because”Introduction” is bound to expect “acceleration”, and the two of the “Accelerationism Declaration” also believe that there are no new possibilities now.
Whether there is a new possibility, I will not show it today, but a more comprehensive understanding of Rosa’s meaning of “acceleration” can explain the huge anxiety hidden behind the “involution” and find possible solutions.
Rosa’s acceleration is divided into three different aspects, namely “accelerated production”, “accelerated transportation” and “accelerated communication”. These three points are the simplest facts of modern technology. It seems that efficiency acceleration is a good thing in itself, but what Rosa just wants to point out is the change and impact brought by efficiency acceleration itself, and pointed out a cruel reality, why under acceleration, a good life becomes difficult Up.
(1) Speed, time, possibility, life cycle
Dating software (Dating app) is a typical application of “communication acceleration”. The result of this acceleration is extremely high information cost. Low, which has formed a typical pattern in our lives.
On dating software, the time cost of finding a new person is almost negligible; on Taobao, the time cost of finding a more suitable product is extremely low; on Dianping.com, the time cost of finding a new restaurant is extremely low; In Douyin, the time cost of finding a better-looking video is also extremely low.
This brings a new belief in “possibility”, which is a kind of “next better” at your fingertips. Sometimes, this is manifested as a state of decision-making disorder that we call the “difficulty of choice sign”; Sometimes, it is manifested as a situation where the life cycle of the relationship between goods, services and people in our lives is greatly shortened.
A concentrated example is consumer durables. In the past, the default usage status of these commodities was to discard and replace them when they were worn out. Now some people may discard and replace clothing on a quarterly basis, while mobile phones are discarded and replaced on a replacement or intergeneration basis. Of course, the life cycle of feelings and attention are also greatly reduced.
Such a “next better” belief and life style, is it true that the belief itself is constantly changing to bring us a better life, or is it repeated in a similar experience, but transformed The various shocks and time brought by itself, on the contrary, have added a lot of trouble to us?
(2) SpeedDegree, emotional pattern
People will always have stronger emotions when they suffer and encounter events, but similarly, after a period of time, emotions will naturally fall back. This is a relatively natural state.
If we focus on the field of news, in the past mode of news production and dissemination, for example, in the pre-TV era, the interval between the occurrence of an event, the public awareness of an event, and the publication of an opinion is all days apart. As a unit. Each of these links is not easy to affect the highest point of people’s emotions, but in the cycle of people’s emotional decline.
Today’s news is completely different. Especially with the Internet’s discussion environment, the response speeds of the official accounts we see are about 2 to 3 hours after the incident. In 24 hours, the event can experience at least one reversal. Most people can browse information, express opinions, and discuss with others (maybe abuse) against the peak of their emotions.
Therefore, people’s emotional patterns in contact with events today have completely changed. This of course also happens in the communication between people. For example, in the past two intellectuals had a pen war in the newspaper, you come and go, and the writing is carefully calculated, usually at least half a month as a unit. Of course the emotional peak is over for such a long time, people are easy On the matter.
Today’s debate on Weibo is recorded in minutes. If the reply is late, it will be considered cowardly and short of breath. Naturally, it is easier for both parties to wipe out their guns.
People’s judgment and self-control during emotional peaks, I think everyone has a personal experience, an accelerated mode allows us to browse and feedback are close to and squeezed at the emotional high point, and constantly superimposed between people and the Internet .
Even our “despair emotion” is the same. Many times we cry out for despair. If we give another day, maybe our expression will be very different, and there will not be so many “inner feelings”. “Volume” and “accelerated” are expressed.
(3) Speed, dispersion
Airplanes, high-speed rails, and highways greatly accelerate the movement of labor. A notable change is that “business trips” became possible, which immediately gave birth to a large number of forms of division of labor that flowed at a high speed nationally and even internationally.
Such a discrete situation of frequent business trips is certainly not a good thing for him and his family. But if we imagine the business eliteEvery day in your suits and shoes, you may not think this is a big problem. After all, you still have to call and WeChat to communicate with your family.
So the development of transportation also makes it possible for the high-speed flow of migrant workers in the city. They are extremely mobile and do multiple jobs in the city. This is also called a nice name by us, that is, economic”.
But of course they cannot afford other family members to live together in the city. The direct consequence of this is the increase of empty-nest elderly and left-behind children in rural areas. The separation of family members with the convenience of transportation has become a major problem here.
Going back to WeChat, even the business elite in front of us is facing severe separation. Anthropologist Dunbar has a well-known concept called the “Dunbar Number”, which is the upper limit of a person’s ability to maintain close interpersonal relationships. This number is about 100 people, but the acceleration of communication certainly allows urbanites to quickly break through WeChat and other tools. This upper limit makes his interpersonal communication into a discrete state.
So in reality, a business elite who travels frequently, even on WeChat, will not have enough time for his family. The state of separation is of course a huge impact on people’s natural life order.
(4) Speed, faith
In addition to the various disorders caused by these accelerations, the trend of acceleration has of course formed a pursuit and belief in speed itself.
Today, all the urbanites who complain about “involvement” are more or less in the possibility of a gentle increase in income and rank. If in Geertz’s “agricultural scroll”, this is already a worry-free life trajectory.
But in today’s overall accelerated environment of GDP growth, commodity housing prices, stock prices, and other people’s wealth. We generate a great fear of gentle growth. Depression, world-weariness, neurasthenia, and the generation of various pressures behind them are all by-products of our belief in “high speed and predictable”.
The above four points are of course not all the impact that “acceleration” will have on life, but they are just a few logics that I use to illustrate the concept of acceleration. But in these specific analyses, we can see the specific causes and logic of the “difficulty of a good life” caused by the acceleration of society.
Perhaps for each of them, individuals can start from their own lives and form strategies for reflection and hedging, but the distinction and possibility of these details is “accelerating”It means “accelerated destruction”. From the perspective of not breaking or standing, everything is lost.
V. Motivation for misuse of words
Therefore, we were able to discover what we missed in the misuse of “involution” and “acceleration”.
We have lost the distinction between “growth” and “development” in the concept of “involution”, and look back at life from this perspective, re-planning the possibility of a substantial “development”.
We have also lost the insight into the substantive acceleration of the impact of life and the impact of life order in the concept of “acceleration”, and from these insights we find mitigation and hedging strategies.
The concepts of “involution” and “acceleration” both point to the problem, and point to the analysis of the cause of the problem, although I don’t think this is the most powerful and enlightening concept in modernity critique. However, in its less complex logic, it is already possible to inspire life, and condensing life facts into such concepts can also make a discussion of life analysis more effective and have consensus.
But in our terms, “involution” and “acceleration” both cast a thick atmosphere of despair, lost the color of cause analysis, and formed a “tragic description.” Obviously, we were uninterested in what happened and what happened. But for how miserable I am and how terrible my situation is, we are very interested in tasting my taste.
This aspect is the elimination of responsibilities. In a society with extreme division of labor, everyone feels that “life is involuntary”. This makes “being in the right line” or “following the right person” so concerned today, it seems After entering the industry and following people, everything is left to the industry and others to follow the trend.
Except for the initial decision of whether to seize the “outreach”, it is difficult for individuals to make any valuable decisions. In this case, what is the value of analyzing the cause? It seems to be self-pity for the shadows, slapping the situation is the only thing of value. The individual degenerates from a practitioner to an observer and feeler.
On the other hand, individualistic ideologies, such as Moments of Friends, Instagram, consumerism, personal private property, commodities, identity and expression, do nurture huge narcissism.
Most urban people are sensitive and passionate about their own destiny and feelings, romantically decorate and amplify their own feelings and pains, disguise disappointment as despair, fear as fear, disguise as nothingness, and then borrow others’ The language expresses it unreservedly to create a characteristicSpecial self-narrative.
Such an impulse makes any setbacks contain great emotional value. We can stand on the peak of emotions and vent without understanding the meaning and possibilities behind a word, using the simplest model and the lowest The expression of cost, wantonly resonate.
Of course this kind of resonance is cheap and fast, otherwise people don’t have to get bored so quickly and destroy other words repeatedly.
No, “classification” is not enough to describe their special and tragic situation. You have to use “involution”. What’s next?
Epilogue: The real “inner volume” happens
Here, we see an inner scroll belonging to our time, which is different from the inner scroll of Java.
We are enjoying the generally gentle growth of Java islanders(growth), but the “accelerated” society prevents us from staying here. Being content with this model, a kind of uneasy emotions accumulate here. It has the opportunity to gather and form our true reflection on life and the pursuit of development(development) Opportunities.
But these uneasy emotions are quickly dissipated and vented in our narcissism that we do not know how to control and misuse “involution” and “acceleration”, so that we can devote ourselves to the gentleness of TV variety shows and game consumption. township.
So far, our model has also gained new rigidity, changing impulses and insightful perspectives, shattered with the madness of language. We are able to move towards the arranged end in the contradictory cycle of enjoyment and despair, then we can’t help but let it go.
This article is from WeChat official account: see over (ID: ikanlixiang) , Author: Hou e