There are various types of regression: historical, biological, cultural, economic, social and others. This term means the degradation of social or natural forms from higher to lower, from more advanced to less perfect, in a word - the movement back.
The meaning of the concept
Determining what regression is is primarily a philosophical question. And identifying the causes of the deterioration of the state of society or nature is one of the most difficult tasks in science. The concept under study is the opposite of the term progress, which means the progressive development of society or the environment to a more advanced level of organization of life.
As a rule, the word regression is used in those cases when it comes to natural or socio-political phenomena. With regard to society, they often talk about the degradation of political institutions, the restriction of individual freedoms and rights, and the primitivization of managerial structures. Regarding biological life, the concept of regression is used, as a rule, to denote two phenomena: the reduction or extinction of the number of individuals and the reduction of their habitat, as well as the loss of body organs or the simplification of their functions.
Simplification of public organization
Society regression occurs as a result of a crisis through which, as a rule, all states pass. But strong countries with good potential for further development and improvement overcome this difficult period and after some time continue progressive development, while weak countries come into final decline and either cease to exist or are absorbed by stronger neighbors.
Such processes occur due to the simplification or decline of social institutions, which is accompanied by a weakening of central authority, administration, and local government. It was these circumstances that caused the collapse of large world empires (for example, the Roman power). Regress of society, as a rule, is a consequence of serious political disasters that disrupt the usual course of history. For example, the invasion of the Kushans in India in the II century BC led to the fall of the Mauryev power.
The decline of natural forms in fixed animals
The concept of what regression is in biology means a reduction in the number of any animal or plant or their extinction. Also, this term implies a decrease in their habitat, which, as proved by science, in the past more than once led to the extinction of entire classes of animals.
Most often, biological regression can be observed in individuals leading a parasitic lifestyle, for example, in flatworms, crustaceans, bovine tapeworm and others. This process is accompanied by the withering away or simplification of internal organs: the nervous system, certain signs characteristic of a particular subgroup. In animals leading an immobile lifestyle, internal organs are also simplified or absent: for example, the pogonophora has almost no intestines, and ascidia almost completely lacks chordate class symptoms. This biological regression developed in the above animals due to the fact that they live in the sea without any movement: for example, ascidia is attached to the seabed and even looks like a plant in appearance.
Causes of organ degeneration in organisms
Animals that live underwater or in caves also lack sensory organs. For example, Proteus lacks the organs of vision.To understand what regression is in living nature, we can give the following example: in adults, proteus, the eyes are covered with skin, and in larvae this important organ is in its infancy. Biological regression is often called a mutation. Changing the body for the worse is often due to the fact that animals cannot adapt to their environment, which, in turn, threatens the extinction of entire species, classes, subgroups. Nowadays, the Ussuri tiger, polar bear, cheetah and others are under threat of extinction.
One of the types of degeneration is morphological regression - a change in the structure of the body. However, sometimes when it enters a more comfortable environment, the body can develop along the path of progress. Regression is often associated with the fact that natural conditions change faster, and organisms simply do not have time to develop new forms of life suitable for other living conditions.
Plant regression
The above processes occur in the structure of representatives of the plant kingdom. One of the most famous examples of this mutation is broomrape, which has no roots. Instead, she had suckers that she stuck to the stems and sucked out vital juices from them. Here we should also mention underwater plants, in which the shape is deformed compared to amphibians: their leaves are narrower, since they do not need a lot of sunlight. Thus, to describe the problem, what is regression in the environment, one should first of all take into account the habitat of individuals.
