Regulation is the management of
complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In
systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...
and
society
A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...
, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For example:
* in biology,
gene regulation and
metabolic regulation allow living organisms to adapt to their environment and maintain
homeostasis;
* in
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
, typically regulation means stipulations of the
delegated legislation which is drafted by
subject-matter expert
A subject-matter expert (SME) is a person who has authority, accumulated great knowledge in a particular field or topic and this level of knowledge is demonstrated by the person's degree, licensure, and/or through years of professional experience ...
s to enforce primary legislation;
* in business,
industry self-regulation occurs through
self-regulatory organizations and
trade associations which allow industries to set and enforce rules with less government involvement; and,
* in psychology,
self-regulation theory is the study of how individuals regulate their thoughts and behaviors to reach goals.
Social
Regulation in the social, political, psychological, and economic domains can take many forms:
legal restrictions promulgated by a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, g