Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America

by Mary C. Waters

Book Overview

In this perceptive and revealing study, Mary Waters explores the "reinvention" of ethnicity in the lives of the grandchildren and great grandchildren of European immigrants, asking how their ethnic heritage is lived, maintained, and celebrated. Through in-depth interviews with sixty third and fourth generation white ethnics in suburban California and Pennsylvania, the author discovers a surprisingly resilient sense of ethnicity among people who could...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520070836
• ISBN13: 9780520070837
• Release Date: August 1990
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Ethnic Options

Mary Waters provides a provoking analysis and presentation of ethnic identity in American society. How people come to "choose" to identify in terms of ethnicity through influences of surnames, cultural practices and even diet are essential to understanding race/ethnicity. While the focus of the book is on Caucasians, I would consider Ethnic Options as a valid source for those looking to explore issues of ethnic identity.