Övergångarna

Övergångarna is a Swedish term formed by övergång "transition, crossing" plus the definite plural suffix -arna. It denotes transitions or transitional phases across various domains. The word is used in everyday language to describe changes of state or stage boundaries, such as the transitions from education to work, childhood to adolescence, or retirement. In sociology and political science, övergångarna commonly refer to transitional periods between governments, policies, or institutions, often emphasizing continuity and change during periods of reform. In cultural and media studies, the concept is used to analyze how narratives or visual sequences link scenes or chapters, as well as how audiences move from one thematic space to another, including formal transitions in music, film, or theatre.

In linguistics, it may refer to transitional phenomena at boundaries between linguistic units, such as phonetic or prosodic transitions, though the term is used loosely rather than as a technical label for a specific theory. The Swedish term is generic and widely used because Swedish nouns with -gång carry the sense of boundary-crossing acts or moments. The plurality in "övergångarna" emphasizes multiple instances rather than a single event.

There is no single canonical work or theory titled "Övergångarna"; rather its use is contextual and descriptive, often appearing in discussions of change management, cultural analysis, or narrative technique.