Transgression

transgression

[tranz′gresh·ən]

(geology)

Geologic evidence of landward extension of the sea. Also known as invasion; marine transgression.

(oceanography)

Extension of the sea over land areas.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

transgression

the practice of engaging with, and challenging, areas of knowledge and DISCOURSE by exploring their historically contingent conditions of emergence. For FOUCAULT transgression can be liberatory because it shows how taken-for-granted aspects of the self and subjectivity are neither universal nor necessary and are therefore open to change. It must be noted, however that the Foucauldean practice of transgression does not attempt to criticize or oppose by claiming that a true, deeper self lies beneath various historical layers of prejudices and assumptions. This would constitute a form of ESSENTIALISM, inferring that an unchanging set of qualities exists that can be discovered and to which one must then adhere. Here, one set of constraints is merely replaced with another. To avoid this, Foucault draws on Nietzsche's views of history.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Transgression

 

in genetics, the intensification or attenuation of a genetic character in offspring as compared with the parent individuals. Transgression occurs when the quantitative manifestation of a character is associated with the functioning of two or more genes. When each parent individual has one or more dominant genes, two or more dominant genes may combine in the offspring, resulting in the intensification of the given character (positive transgression). An analogous combination of recessive genes leads to an attenuated manifestation of characters (negative transgression).

Knowledge of transgression is applied in selective breeding to obtain new varieties, notably in self-fertilizing species of plants. Applications of transgression are limited since its occurrence decreases with an increase in the number of genes causing the quantitative manifestation of a character.

REFERENCE

Miintzing, A. Geneticheskie issledovaniia. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from English.)

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Transgression

 

the advance of the sea onto the land. In most cases, transgression occurs as a result of a subsidence of the land; less often, it is due to a rise in the level of the ocean. A transgression consists of a series of relatively brief advances and retreats of the sea, with the advances predominating. The sequence of deposits formed during a transgression generally shows a transition from shallow-water facies at the bottom to deeper-water facies at the top. The opposite of a transgression is called a regression.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.