BECOMING AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST - THE PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION FROM EVERYDAY LIFE INTO MAKING HISTORY IN THE HAZARDOUS-WASTE MOVEMENT

This article uses in-depth interviews of activists in the environmenta l justice movement to explain the process of transformation from ordin ary citizen to career activist. The process is presented as a series o f distinct stages through which activists came to understand their per sonal troubles as social problems and, consequently, came to re-define their political roles. Using Becker's insight on the formation of dev iant identities, it is suggested that the motivation for an activist c areer follows political practice. The paper also uses Blumer's notion of ''situated interaction'' to explain the perceptual changes of inade quate government response to their concerns thal were integral to beco ming an activist.