Redneck

In modern usage, redneck predominantly refers to a particular stereotype of whites from the Southern United States, Western United States, and Appalachia. The word can be used either as a pejorative or as a matter of pride, depending on context.

Modern usage

"Redneck", like the word nigger, has two general uses: one, a pejorative for outsiders, and then another used by members within that group. To outsiders, generally, it is a term for those of Scots-Irish descent (some members of which settled outside the South and Appalachia), or more loosely, rural poor to middle-class persons of rural extraction. (Appalachia also includes small sections of the midwest and northeast.) Within that group, however, it is used to describe the more downscale members. "Country" person is a more polite synonym for "redneck". Rednecks span from the working poor to the working class.

Related Topics:
Nigger - Scots-Irish - Working poor - Working class

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Generally, there is a continuum from redneck, a derisive term, to the country person, however there are differences. Rednecks typically are more libertine, especially in their personal lives, than their country brethren who tend towards social conservatism. Also, the lowest class rednecks, especially, have a penchant for the obscene (see "stereotype" below).

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In contrast to country people, they tend not to attend church, or do so infrequently. Further, "politically apathetic" better describes this group. The younger ones generally don't vote. If they do vote, while they tend towards populism and the Republican party, they are less homogenous than the country people and other Southern whites. Many Southern celebrities like the late Jerry Clower and Jeff Foxworthy embrace the redneck label. It is used both as a term of pride and as a derogatory epithet; sometimes to paint country people and/or their lifestyle as being low class. In one of his stand-up routines, Foxworthy sums up the condition as "a glorious absence of sophistication".

Related Topics:
Republican party - Jerry Clower - Jeff Foxworthy

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Writer Edward Abbey, as well as the original Earth First! under Dave Foreman (before that group was taken over by urban leftists around 1990), proudly adopted the term rednecks to describe themselves. This reflected the term's probable historical origin among striking coal miners to describe white rural working-class radicalism. "In Defense of the Redneck" was a popular essay by Ed Abbey. One popular early Earth First! bumper sticker was "Rednecks for Wilderness." Murray Bookchin, an urban leftist and social ecologist, objected strongly to Earth First!'s use of the term as having racist overtones and used this as part of his broader attack on deep ecology, possibly reflecting pro-urban and anti-white working class, anti-rural biases.

Related Topics:
Edward Abbey - Earth First! - Dave Foreman - Leftists - Murray Bookchin - Leftist - Social ecologist - Deep ecology

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