  Draft, written 2005 Title Innovation and / or change – The historical evolution of two sociological concepts in Western Europe Abstract This article discusses the concept of change, and its heuristic relevance, as an alternative to the concept of innovation. From a sociological approach, the ideological character of innovation is refused and an alternative, more neutral, concept of change is adopted. It follows with the analysis of different sociological paradigms of change in organisations, focusing in articulating those with historical conditions and different theoretical proposals. Finally, the sociological discourses on organizational change will be reflected upon. Keywords : change, learning, knowledge Author Cristina Parente 1 1. Ideological Discourses on Innovation The concept of innovation became popular, and acquired some visibility due to the technical and economic changes faced by western countries in the 1980’s. It started to be commonly used in economic policies of development, particularly in the more instrumental dimension of both industrial and technological policies. It focused on the production of knowledge in Economics and it took an essentially technological dimension. Scientifically, innovation succeeds both historical and theoretically to the concept of change, which was developed by and widely used in the classical Sociology of Work, Organisation and Industry. It is relevant to note that the most privileged dimension of studies on innovation, mainly sociological studies, has been the one of technological innovation i . On the other hand, the approach to other dimensions, in particular organisational ii and sociocultural iii , has been relatively recent. This idea is                  !