What Is Code-Switching?

Code-switching is when a person changes the way they speak, behave or present themselves in specific situations or circumstances. While everyone is capable of code-switching, it’s most prevalent among people from marginalized communities who feel like they have to adjust their speech to match the dominant social norms within a certain professional or educational context.

What Is Code-Switching?

Code-switching refers to individuals — often members of marginalized groups — changing the way they express themselves to fit the dominant culture within a specific context. This can involve adopting different languages, accents and mannerisms, sometimes in the same sentence or conversation.

While code-switching originally described bilingual speakers switching languages to fit the environment, it now commonly refers to how a person presents themselves through clothing, body language and other aspects of their physical presentation as well.

Examples of Code-Switching

Here are a few examples of how various people might code-switch to fit in with the dominant culture:

• A Black office worker avoids speaking in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) and adopts a dialect that sounds more like his white colleagues.
• A gay employee changes their voice to sound more feminine or masculine, and they shy away from discussing their significant other.
• A sales manager from the southern United States uses a generic American accent when talking to customers and coworkers but reverts to a southern accent with friends or family.
• A bilingual store clerk speaks English with one customer then switches to Spanish with the next customer.

Reasons People Code-Switch

People’s motives for code-switching often vary between contexts, but these are some of the most common reasons for why they code-switch.  

Connect With Those of Different Backgrounds

People across all demographic groups might code-switch to find common ground with someone from a different background.

“It’s just a part of human nature that when you’re interacting with someone who comes from a different background, we tend to try to meet that person halfway,” Myles Durkee, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, told Built In. “We tend to find ourselves adjusting certain aspects of our self-expression.”

Avoid Discrimination or Negative Treatment

While people from every demographic group code-switch to some extent, people with one or more marginalized identities code-switch more than people from non-marginalized identities. This may stem from a fear of facing discrimination, especially in hostile environments where certain ways of talking or expressing oneself are seen as unacceptable.  

“Those from underrepresented marginalized groups are code-switching at much higher rates than those from the dominant group because of power dynamics,” Durkee said. “They’re trying to avoid detrimental outcomes from happening or unfair treatment from occurring.”

Fit in With the Dominant Culture

Some people are taught to code-switch in childhood, while others learn how to code-switch through observing and interacting with other groups, said George Paasewe, founder of DEIB training firm The Code-Switcher and author of The Cost of Code-Switching: Belonging in Corporate America.

Paasewe said he first code-switched in his freshman year at a majority-white college. He asked some students in his dormitory, “What’s happenin’?” and they looked confused, like he was “speaking a foreign language.”

“I recognized that my form of Ebonics wasn’t understood by everyone, and I had to find a more mainstream way to communicate what I meant to say,” Paasewe told Built In.

Achieve Personal and Professional Goals

Code-switching is often described as a means of survival for people. Those who code-switch are more likely to get hired and promoted in the workplace, earn higher evaluations from teachers and make friends across demographic groups, Durkee said.

“People are going to naturally be attracted towards you,” Durkee said. “They feel comfortable around you because you’re basically mirroring their own norms and attributes directly right back to them.”

Avoid or Push Back Against Stereotypes

Members of marginalized groups may code-switch because they worry about being associated with a particular stereotype, whether consciously or unconsciously. This is a harmful form of code-switching that occurs when people don’t feel comfortable being themselves. 

On the other hand, individuals may intentionally code-switch to resist a stereotype and defy expectations placed on them because they belong to a marginalized group. 

The Impact of Code-Switching

While code-switching has its benefits, it can also take a psychological toll.

When Paasewe changed the way he spoke and dressed, for example, he found that he received a warmer reception from white students on campus. Eventually, though, he started to feel an identity conflict, and he felt like the relationships he formed were inauthentic.

These feelings are common among those who code-switch, Durkee said, as one can feel like they are forced to hide their authentic self. People who code-switch have reported that it affects their mood, their sense of identity and their authenticity, he said.

“When they find themselves being pressured to have to code-switch it creates this sense of internal turmoil that they then have to cope with,” Durkee said.

In addition to inner strife, people from marginalized communities may suffer from imposter syndrome – like they are not good enough — and may overcompensate accordingly.

“​​I felt the pressure of representing my entire race in a positive light in certain spaces, specifically in a lecture hall,” Paasewe said. “I felt like I always had to bring my A-game.”

Code-Switching in the Workplace

Code-switching is most prevalent in the workplace — particularly when employees are uncertain of the workplace culture.

“As they enter a space where they’re unsure, a little bit anxious or not sure how they’ll be judged, code-switching is almost the go-to default until you get a validation that it’s a safe space,” Durkee said.

Code-switching can be emotionally exhausting for people from marginalized groups who feel pressured to fit in when everyone else talks, dresses and acts the same.

“It creates an environment where diversity is hidden and only a narrow range of behaviors or ways of speaking are seen as acceptable,” Kristie Tse, founder of Uncover Mental Health Counseling, told Built In.

Employees who code-switch might be less engaged and suffer from mental health issues like anxiety and depression, Paasewe said. This can lead to employees burning out and leaving the organization.

Companies can encourage employees to bring their authentic selves to work by creating an inclusive work environment. In a diverse and inclusive workplace, employees from underrepresented groups will feel less like an outsider who needs to conform to a predominantly white culture.

An inclusive company celebrates diversity by creating employee resource groups where employees from various identities can share experiences and foster a sense of belonging at work. Companies should also commit to listening to the concerns of employees from underrepresented backgrounds and educating other employees about unconscious biases, microaggressions, the importance of inclusive language and how to be an effective ally.

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