ABSTRACT
The idea of innovation presupposes an act of invention or creation and implies the successful implementation of creative ideas, in which sense creativity goes beyond innovation. The standardization of an innovation results from a process of mutual adjustment and mediation between technical and cultural systems. The originality of the innovation reflects the complete exchanges among various interpreters, all of whom adopt varied, multicultural, collective perceptions. Schumpeter’s considerable contributions to understanding the process of innovation in turn constitute the basis for sociological research into the process of social change. Sociologists posit that change occurs within a system because the diffusion of successive or joint innovations generates major social transformations. The determinant factors, in both models, are the level of understanding required by the client to adopt the innovation, the cost of switching from old to new practices, and the importance of the social norm.
