neijuan 

n./v. Describing a situation where a certain cultural pattern, situation, or set of actions have reached a certain altitude and plateaued, and cannot achieve any meaningful breakthrough, so all parties involved simply try to outcompete one another by making minute and meaningless micro-progresses deep into the "diminishing-returns" territory that causes the entire group to be worse off, similar to a prisoner's dilemma.

The term comes from a Chinese word of the same pronunciation, where "nei" means "internal", as within one group, and "juan" means "to struggle".

Some examples: Paying ridiculous amount of money for houses because everyone else's doing so. Working 60 hours per week because others are working 55. Taking fewer days off from work per year because there are some people who take 0 paid days off. etc.

Because of the recent rumors of potential layoffs coming, everyone started to neijuan by work for longer hours and leaving the office later just to make it seem like they are working harder.

There is no reason why masseurs and masseuses need a minimum of a Master's Degree to find a job. The only reason this is happening is because there are so many people with a Master's Degree that cannot find a job that they started neijuaning even the most basic industries.

neijuan by FishButtGooberDip April 12, 2022