The concept of involution has been widely used in the analysis of complex issues in Chinese society in the last two years, but the concept implied by this term has been far from its original meaning, and even in different fields the meaning of the concept is slightly different. This paper analyzes how the concept of involution has changed in different application scenarios since its introduction into economics discussions, highlighting the key connotation of “development without growth” in the concept of involution and how it has changed in terms of expression and causation.