in biology, the process of ordering, coordinating, and uniting the structures and functions of an integral organism, a process that is characteristic of living systems at every level of organization.
The concept of integration was introduced in 1857 by the English scientist H. Spencer, who connected it with differentiation of tissues in the process of evolution and with specialization of functions of primitively homogeneous, diffusely reacting living matter. The following are examples of integration: on the molecular level—integration of amino acids in a complex protein molecule, and integration of nucleotides in a nucleic-acid molecule; and on the cellular level—the shaping of a cell nucleus and the autoreproduction of cells as a whole.
Integration attains its highest level in a multicellular organism, expressing itself in the processes of ontogenesis; here the interconnection between the parts and functions of the organism increases with progressive evolution; the system of correlation becomes more complex and regulatory mechanisms are created tht ensure the stability and integrity of the developing organism. On the level of communities—populations, species, and bio-cenoses—integration is manifested in the complex and mutually conditioned evolution of these biological systems. The degree of integration of a living system may serve as an index of its level of progressive development.
In physiology, integration is the functional unification of specific physiological mechanisms into the complexly coordinated adaptive activity of the integral organism. The elementary unit of integration—the functional system—is the dynamic unification of the central-peripheral formations that ensure autoregula-tion of a particular function. The principles of physiological integration were revealed in 1906 by the English physiologist C. Sherrington, using as an example the coordination of the reflex activity of the spinal column (convergence, reciprocity, common terminal pathway). These principles function on all levels of the nervous system, including the cortex of the large hemispheres of the brain. A higher manifestation of physiological integration is the conditioned reflex, in which mental, somatic, and autonomic components combine in effecting an integrated adaptive activity of the organism.
I. V. ORLOV and A. V. IABLOKOV
a concept in system theory referring to a condition in which certain differentiated parts are combined into a single whole; also the process leading to such a condition.
Social integration refers to the existence of orderly relations between individuals, groups, organizations, or states. The analysis of integrated systems takes into account the various levels of such systems, for example, the level of integration of a personality, of a group, and of a society. The term “integrated” has different meanings in these different cases. If the analysis is that of personality (in psychology), the term “integrated personality” is understood to mean an individual with an integral mental structure free of inner contradictions. The same term, when used in analyzing a social system, refers to a personality that is well integrated or merged into the social system, that is, a conforming personality.
In political science and economics, the concept of integration is used to characterize the internal condition of a society or state or to refer to a state that is integrated into a larger international community. The integration of a society or particular state may be accomplished through force, on the basis of mutual advantage, as a result of a similarity of social and economic structure, or as a result of a communality of interests, aims, or values on the part of various individuals, social groups, classes, or states. Under present conditons, there is a growing tendency toward integration among states in economic and political respects under both socialist conditions and capitalist conditions. However, the common objective preconditions for both socialist and capitalist integration (the scientific and technological revolution and the tendency toward internationalization) do not mean that the process is the same in both cases. On the contrary, the social and economic nature, the forms and methods, and the economic and political results of integration are profoundly different for the two systems.
The term “integration” is also used to charadterize the process of convergence and conjunction that goes on in the sciences simultaneously with the process of differentiation.
L. A. SEDOV