ABSTRACT
Genres exist in a systemic relation with other genres; a genre system is both an order of differential relations and a hierarchy of value. When a text is shifted from one system to another, by surviving into another period, for example, or by translation. Its function and value, and thus its generic force, will alter. Conversely, continuity of generic label may disguise discontinuities in form and function. In our time a set of digital genres has emerged from older print and visual genres, often in a radically changed form and establishing new orders of interrelated genres. Genres are sustained by institutions such as the publishing and film industries or the school system. Genres may be taught explicitly in school, but they also form the implicit basis of much educational activity. Critical engagement with genre is central to the critical examination of our culture and our social world.
