Navigating an Evolving Identity

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the idea of codeswitching in order to avoid incurring ethical costs and retain a sense of one's identity. It talks about how changing a person behaves as it moves between the community it is attempting to join in which the person's family and friends reside. The chapter discusses codeswitching as a strategy for strivers to navigate the ethical conflicts that arise when one is pulled in different directions by conflicting sets of social expectations. Strivers might deploy codeswitching as a way to maintain their ties to their community while adapting to the world in which educational and career opportunities reside. Playing for both sides might be thought of as a strategy to minimize the ethical costs that strivers face as they pursue upward mobility.