Purpose
To provide a small overview of genre theory and its associated concepts and to show how genre theory has had its antecedents in certain parts of the social sciences and not in the humanities.
Findings
The chapter argues that the explanatory force of genre theory may be explained with its emphasis on everyday genres, de facto genres.
Originality/value
By providing an overview of genre theory, the chapter demonstrates the wealth and richness of forms of explanations in genre theory.