The article is framed in the context of the change of name of the journal that for many years was a reference of the Collective Identity Studies Center (CEIC in its original) located at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). From the traditional question of social change and identity, the focus shifts to new epistemologies. Indicating fermentation as a theoretical process transversal to this new epistemology, we take as an example the alcoholic fermentation produced in << chicha >> and wine in Chile. By paying attention to the historical moments in which different social agents connect and produce conditions of possibility for fermentative processes, we can get closer to their social physiognomy. The new scales involved in the analysis and the consequences in the ways of understanding social change and contemporary identity are indicated.