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The introduction of female writers to The Archers in 1975 brought a new perspective to the programme, revitalising its profile and cementing its place in the British psyche. This ‘feminisation’ of the programme was an important turning point for the women of Ambridge with increasing focus on issues important to them. This chapter argues that until this time storylines had tended to position women in the background of farming life, their identities shaped solely in terms of their relationships with the men of the village, as homemakers, carers and love-interests. The new band of female writers meant that the women of Ambridge were able to emerge as fully-rounded characters in their own right, as professionals, farmers, business women and matriarchs, at the forefront of village life. It goes on to discuss the character and function of Susan Carter, from the writer's perspective of both a research psychologist and the actor who plays Susan. It is argued that Susan utilises gossip not only as a tool with which to create interpersonal alliances and cement friendships but also to enhance her damaged self-worth and increase her status and power as a fount of all Ambridge knowledge.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a cult-classic early-70s film, based on the 1969 novel by Sam Greenlee. The film deals with issues of inauthentic diversity initiatives, tokenism, and Black Nationalism. In the same manner, this chapter uses themes from the film and novel to disclose how the author navigates pseudo diversity initiatives within higher education and his experiences of being viewed as an exemplar Black male (token) by colleagues, while simultaneously remaining committed to his explicit research focus pertaining to exemplar practices and programming for Black boys and men. Theoretically, the author intersects tenets of Critical Race Theory into his essay (Delgado & Stefancic, 1993, 1994; Tate, 1997). While the author does not advocate for physical violence (as depicted in the film), he is using the training received in academia to declare war on the pernicious educational system that continues to intentionally mis-educate (Woodson, 1933), Black boys and men.

The proliferation of zero-tolerance behavioral policies and the presence of school resource officers (SROs) are receiving justifiable scrutiny for the deleterious effects they have on students’ functioning. While many have argued the convergence of these policies thwart the development of Black and Latino boys, critiques examining the experiences of Black girls are scant. Disaggregated disciplinary data from across the country reveal “… black girls are suspended at higher rates (12%) than girls of any other race or ethnicity and most boys …” (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014, p. 1) suggesting that when it comes to schooling, Black girls are, indeed, “pushed out, overpoliced and underprotected” (Crenshaw, Ocen, & Nanda, 2015, p. 1). The authors of this chapter argue that youth advocates can use hip-hop culture, a tradition rich with resistant prose, to develop critical consciousness and engage Black girls in discussion about socially contrived binaries that reinforce the STPP. The authors demonstrate how the anti-oppressive lyrics of women emcees (e.g., Rapsody, Sa-Roc) can foster therapeutic alliances and dialogues with young Black girls, and how these lyrics might serve to inspire Black girls in composing their own counterhegemonic autobiographical narratives to resist the school-to-prison pipeline.

In this study, a teacher-researcher examined his students’ conceptions of Whiteness within U.S. history courses at an ethnically and economically diverse urban high school. Using critical race theory as the lens, this mixed method study found most students could explain the role of race in history. Students of color were more likely to express racism is common in the current day, while White students were more likely to express racism as uncommon. Whites were more likely to express racism as on a dramatic decline or the result of a few individuals. This study highlights the positive impact a race-conscious social studies classroom can have on all students. It also shows the many barriers teachers face in helping White students understand their roles in a system privileging them because of their skin color.

Seasoned workers often complain that their Millennial colleagues lack organizational commitment (OC). Research findings, however, are mixed. Furthermore, research suggests that employee professional development increases job satisfaction and reduces turnover. Still, few studies have examined if professional development increases commitment, particularly among Millennials. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study compared survey responses, gathered through social media, of Generation X (GenX) and Millennial employees on the relationship between employee development (ED) and OC.

Millennials (vs GenXers) reported significantly lower levels of continuance commitment, but no differences on normative and affective commitment. GenXers reported more affective and normative commitment than Millennials when having ED opportunities.

ED opportunities may not be similarly impactful on OC across generational cohorts. It might stimulate commitment amongst GenXers, but not Millennials.

Findings also suggest that ED programs may be a normalized fixture in organizations today and that Millennials may take ED opportunities for granted.

This study is the first to identify potential factors influencing differences between GenXers and Millennials on OC. More research is needed to identify approaches to increasing Millenials’ commitment if managers want to keep their best employees or to ensure training and development is impactful.

The purpose of this paper is to present a theory of psychological resilience in volunteer firefighters.

Using a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) approach, the qualitative study engaged a purposive sample of eight firefighters in Canada, conducted in-depth interviews and analysed the data using comparative methods.

The results provided unique insights into resilience in firefighters and revealing resilience as multidimensional, complex, dynamic and contextual. Six core concepts interrelate to construct resilience: relationships, personal resources, meaning-making, leadership, culture and knowledge.

The findings of this research offer a framework for practical integration of resilience theory into workplace health policy and practice. The theory was co-created with firefighters hence is contextually sound to this population, but applicable to other emergency and health services.

Volunteer firefighters are under-represented in the literature, despite facing intermittent and frequently intense work-related stressors; this research begins to address the gap in the literature. As well, previous resilience theories have noted relationships between some components, but there is little evidence linking categories; this theory more patently represents the complex nature of resilience in volunteer firefighters.