The Net Work Genre Function
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published online on June 05, 2016
Abstract
This study theorizes genre from within actor-network theory. The net work (spelled intentionally as two words) function of genre proposes a solution to the inherent incommensurability in applying the notion of genre as social action within the posthumanist and postsocial perspective of actor-network theory. The study proposes an approach to genre analysis informed by the net work genre function and demonstrates its affordances by analyzing two conventional workplace genres. Performing genre analysis from a net work perspective has value for assimilating writers, both students and workplace professionals, into a new professional domain or organization.