Ethnic option is a term coined by sociologist Mary C. Waters

Mary C. Waters

Mary C. Waters is an American sociologist.B.A. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in 1978, an M.A. in Demography and an M.A. and PhD in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. She has taught at Harvard University since 1986 and is the M.E...

to express her conception that ethnic identity something that is flexible, symbolic and voluntary, not a definitive aspect of their identity, for the descendants of immigrants. Waters argues that with the achievement of middle- class suburban status, ethnicity becomes a lifestyle option, a costless form of community.