Genredynamics: a perceptual calculus of genre

Abstract

Prevailing theories of genre, derived primarily from literary and musical scholarship, differ in characteristics they ascribe to genre itself. Here, the temporally dynamic and culturally contingent nature of genre informs a computational framework that is reducible to extant theories of genre and connected to psychological theories of perceptual categorization. This framework, called genredynamics, interprets genres as perceptual categories in a space defined by aesthetic and sociocultural variables, and characterizes the behaviour and structure of genres using concepts from differential topology. Its existence demonstrates that disparate theoretical approaches to genre can be unified and implies that genre is best understood as both a psychological and musicological phenomenon. Classifications' temporal fluidity and incorporating sociocultural variables alongside sensory ones are necessary for this framework to be generalizable. Together, these theoretical results have broad implications for potential applications of genre theory, including the study of mental representations, social and cultural psychology, and cognition.