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Genres rely on conventionalized patterns of language use, yet at the same time they are not static, ontological entities, but rather socially situated, dynamic and changing artifacts. In this chapter, we discuss genres as cultural artifacts, constituting and reflecting situational and cultural change. We further argue that the values and norms of any discourse community have to be balanced and matched, thus demanding a display on a symbolic level. Genre choice and genre form, i.e. genre style can therefore be seen as key sites for the analysis of culture.Analyzing television news genres from the 20th and 21st century as well as asylum case histories from the 19th and 20th century, we show how a genre's form, its variation and change can be related to "news cultures" and changing paradigms in psychiatry. We argue that genre change depends on the discourse community's perception and interpretation of contextual factors and therefore cannot be deduced or predicted from changes of contextual factors alone. As genres and genre change themselves are part of this context, genre change itself can induce cultural change. We then discuss different forms of change and turn to genres in new media, showing how the opportunities of watching new genres arise, and discussing the challenge of separating the technological medium from the different genres realized within. We conclude with a summary of the controversial issues pertaining to the initiation of genre change, the role of the individual in this change and finally, the evidence for the emergence of new genres.
