involution

is (in contrast to evolution which concerns the development) such that form is constantly being dissolved, freeing times and speeds.

but this proliferation of material has nothing to do with an evolution, the development of a form or the filiation of forms. Still less is it a regression leading back to a principle. It is on the contrary an involution, in which form is constantly being dissolved, freeing times and speeds. (D&G 'thousand' : 267)

is a tendency of a people to respond to population growth by innovating but rather through the intensification or over-elaboration of existing methods of cultivation.

involution is 'marked tendency (and ability) to respond to a rising population through intensification: that is through absorbing increased numbers of cultivators on a unit of cultivated land' (AI:32). . . . involution. In general use, turning in, or enveloping. Used by Clifford Geertz to describe a process whereby rice farmers in Java responded to population growth by over-elaborating existing methods of cultivation rather than innovating. Further reading: Geertz (1963). (Morris 2012: 134)

is said of an agricultural economy when it feeds on itself instead of expanding through profit and surplus.

an agricultural economy feeding on itself instead of expanding through profit and surplus

is the skillful use of limited resources to make a culture deeper and more complex.

the skillful use of limited resources to make a culture deeper and more complex.

involution, n.Definitions

involution