Involution, No Revolution

Abstract

The global economic downturn due to the pandemic has resulted in shrinking the digital market in big economies such as the US and China. After the pandemic, many of the major tech and internet-based companies had to take action to reverse their the declining balance sheets and look for ways to financially rebound. Illustrated in this paper is how these digital giants in China could further advance their economy by minimising their paid manpower by working with/under the education system and inventing new temporary intern positions as semi-(im)material labour to expand their workforce. Based on our ethnographic work and interviews with interns, we elucidate the case of a Chinese tech intern, which exemplifies what we refer to as involution. Involution is a process by which the new generation is induced to accept a much more precarious economy as a result of nominal pay, yet is able to nevertheless survive, meet their daily needs and dwell in big cities, rather than engaging a radical change or revolution.

Keywords

• involution
• revolution
• technocapitalism
• digital capitalism
• tech firms
• internship
• labour
• precarity