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| A redneck is a total weirdo | |||
| {{otheruses|Redneck (disambiguation)}} | |||
| {{Refimprove|date=January 2009}} | |||
| {{wiktionary|redneck}} | |||
| '''Redneck''' refers to a person who is ] ] (i.e., white) and is of lower socio-economic status in the ] and ]. Originally limited to the ], and later the ], this term has become widely used throughout ], and to a lesser extent, ]. | |||
| ==Etymologies== | |||
| ===Possible Covenanter etymology=== | |||
| The ] and ] (also known as ]) signed documents stating that ] desired a ] ], and rejected the ] as their official church (no ] congregation was ever accepted as the official church in Scotland). In doing so, the Covenanters rejected episcopacy—rule by bishops—the preferred form of church government in ]. Many of the Covenanters signed these documents using their own blood, and many in the movement began wearing red pieces of cloth around their neck to signify their position to the public. They were referred to as rednecks.<ref>See ''Albion's Seed, Four British Folkways in America'' David Hackett Fischer (New York: Oxford University Press) 1989, pp. 757–758, citing the Oxford English Dictionary OED). The OED cites a source from 1830-31 where the term is applied to certain American Presbyterians. </ref> | |||
| Large numbers of Scottish Presbyterians migrated from their lowland Scottish home to ] (the northern ] during the plantation era. In the mid to late 18th century, they emigrated again to ] in considerable numbers, comprising the largest group of immigrants to the American colonies from the ] before the ].<ref>See ''Albion's Seed, Four British Folkways in America'' David Hackett Fischer (New York: Oxford University Press) 1989</ref> This etymological theory holds that since many ]s and ]s who settled in Appalachia and the South were Presbyterian, the term redneck was used for them and their descendants. | |||
| ===Possible American etymologies=== | |||
| Another possible contributing source of the term ''redneck'' comes from The West Virginia Coal Miners March or the ] when coal miners wore red bandanas around their necks to identify themselves as seeking the opportunity to unionize. | |||
| Another contributing theory derives the term from such individuals having a red ] caused by working outdoors in the ] over the course of their lifetime. The effect of decades of direct sunlight on the exposed skin of the back of the neck not only reddens fair skin, but renders it ]y and tough, and typically very wrinkled and spotted by late ]. Similarly, some historians claim that the term redneck originated in 17th century Virginia, because fair-skinned ]ers were sunburnt while tending plantation crops. | |||
| ==Historical usage== | |||
| ], in 1897.]] | |||
| In colonial times, rednecks and ] were characterized as lacking in education and refinement. A 1760 letter from an English planter to the Earl of Dartmouth included the following passage: "I should explain ... what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." The term was applied to the Scots-Irish settlers on the frontier.<ref></ref> | |||
| The fledgling US government inherited a huge debt from the ]. One of the steps taken to pay it down was a tax imposed in 1791 on distilled spirits. Large producers were assessed a tax of six cents a gallon. Smaller distillers, however, located in the more remote areas, were taxed at a higher rate of nine cents a gallon. These rural settlers were short of cash to begin with, and they lacked any practical means to get their grain to market other than fermenting and distilling it into relatively portable alcoholic spirits. From ] to ], the western counties engaged in a campaign of harassment of the federal tax collectors. "Whiskey Boys" also made violent protests in Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.<ref></ref> This civil disobedience eventually culminated in armed conflict in the ] of 1794. | |||
| Fiercely independent, and sometimes belligerent, people characterized as rednecks occasionally engaged in ] such as the infamous ] in ] and ].<ref></ref> | |||
| Southerners have served in the U.S. armed forces at a higher rate than Americans of other regions, for a variety of reasons. In recent decades, the military represented a way out of agricultural poverty and small towns. The South had a tradition of military service among the elite, who typically formed the officer corps.<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
| Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State" for the unexpected number of Tennesseans who volunteered for duty in the ], the ] (including the defense of the Alamo), and especially the ].{{Fact|date=December 2008}} During the Civil War, poor whites did most of the fighting and the dying on both sides of the conflict. They were more numerous than the elite, who also died on both sides. Poor southern whites stood to gain little from secession and were usually ambivalent about the institution of slavery. | |||
| The disruptions of the ] (1861-65) and ] mired African Americans in a new poverty and dragged many more white Americans into a similar state. The destruction of the war added to the burdens of a society in which planters had not invested in public infrastructure or education in the antebellum years. The continued reliance on agriculture trapped families in ] and tenant farming for generations. Emerging industries paid low wages and imposed company-town restrictions. Destitute white Americans were labeled "poor ]", “cracker,” "clay eater," "linthead," "peckerwood," "buckra" and especially ''redneck''.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} | |||
| By the post-] era (after the departure of Federal troops from the American South in 1874–1878), the term had worked its way into popular usage. Several blackface ]s used the word in a derogatory manner, comparing slave life favorably over that of the poor rural whites.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} | |||
| The post-Reconstruction years were ones of continued political competition and social, political and economic struggle between ], Republicans, and the ] of the post-Civil War South.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} This may have much to do with the social, political and economic struggle between ], the Redeemers and Republican ]s of the post-Civil War South and Appalachia, where the new middle class of the South (professionals, bankers, industrialists) displaced the pre-war planter class as the leaders of the Southern states. Elite whites regained dominance through the ] with deliberate use of ] groups such as the ] and ].<ref>George C. Rable, ''But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction'', Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984, p. 132</ref> They used violence to kill and intimidate voters, suppressing black and Republican voting in the late 1870s. | |||
| In the 1880s, the biracial Populist movement that temporarily gained power in several states challenged the conservative white Democrats. Its message of economic equality represented a threat to the status quo. Competition between white elites and lower classes, and the attempt to prevent alliances between lower class whites and African Americans, both formed part of the motivation for voter restrictions.<ref>Michael Perman.''Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001, Introduction</ref> | |||
| The elite of the South regained political control in the late 19th century. From 1890 to 1908, the white-dominated state legislatures passed ] statutes and constitutional amendments that effectively barred most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites from voting, thus also closing them out of juries and local offices.<ref> Accessed 10 Mar 2008</ref> The use of a derogative term, such as ''redneck'' to belittle the working class, would have assisted in the gradual disenfranchisement of most of the Southern lower class, both black and white, which occurred by 1910. State legislatures also imposed legal racial ] in these ] years, that persisted until the 1960s. | |||
| ==Modern usage== | |||
| Southern comedian ] defines "redneck" as "a glorious lack of ]," stating "that we are all guilty of at one time or another." | |||
| Redneck has two general uses: first, as a pejorative used by outsiders, and, second, as a term used by members within that group. To outsiders, it is generally a term for ] of ] or ] rural poor backgrounds — or more loosely, rural poor to ] people of rural extraction. (Appalachia also includes large parts of ], ], and ].) In the ], there are regionally specialized versions of the term, namely '']'' and ''Arkie'', for poor rural white migrants from respectively ] and ], displaced from the Great Plains by the ] years of the 1930s. Poor economic conditions across the ] also pushed people to migrate to the farming valleys of ]. Within that group, however, it is used to describe the more downscale members.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} Rednecks span from the poor to the ]. | |||
| Generally, there is a continuum from the stereotypical redneck (a derisive term) to the country person; yet there are differences. In contrast to country people, stereotypical rednecks tend not to attend church, or do so infrequently. They also tend to use alcohol and gamble more than their church-going neighbors.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} Further, "politically apathetic" may describe some members of this group. In some areas, such as eastern Tennessee, ethnic Scots-Irish were Unionists during and after the Civil War, and voted with Republicans. Except for those poor whites disfranchised by poll taxes and other devices, those who voted were generally part of the solidly white Democratic South that persisted after conservative whites regained power in the late 1870s. Some joined the biracial coalitions of Populist movements that came to brief power in the 1880s. Following civil rights legislation, in the late 20th century, there was a gradual reorientation among most whites in the South to vote for Republican national candidates.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} | |||
| Although the stereotype of poor white Southerners and Appalachians in the early twentieth century, was exaggerated in popular media, the problem of poverty was real. The national mobilization of troops in ] (1917-18) enabled comparisons of draftees from the South and Appalachia and the rest of the country. Southern and Appalachian whites had less money, less education, and poorer health than white Americans in general. Only Southern blacks had more handicaps.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} Immigrants were also determined to have numerous handicaps, among them less facility with English. | |||
| In the early part of the 20th century, the ] devastated the Deep South's cotton economy. In the 1930s, areas of the ], some within the boundaries of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, or the Southwest, were devastated by the Dust Bowl years. | |||
| The ] was a difficult era for the already disadvantaged in the South and Appalachia. In an echo of the ], rednecks escalated their production and ] of ] whiskey during Prohibition.<ref></ref> To deliver it and avoid law-enforcement and tax agents, cars were "]" to create a more maneuverable and faster vehicle. Many of the original drivers of ] were former bootleggers and "ridge-runners." Federal programs originating in the ]-era ] and the later ] created jobs for rural southerners and others under the ] and ], as well as encouraging construction and development. | |||
| ] (1941-45) meant economic development in the South and parts of Appalachia as the nation built up its industrial and military base. In and out of the armed forces, unskilled Southern and Appalachian whites, and many African Americans as well, were trained for industrial and commercial work they had never dreamed of attempting, much less mastering. The US government established military bases in ], Georgia and ] to stimulate development. Big industrial plants began to appear across the once rural landscape. Many blue-collar families from the South and Appalachia found their way to white-collar life in metropolitan areas like ]. By the 1960s some blacks had begun to share in this progress, but blacks and whites in more isolated rural areas continued to have economic difficulties. | |||
| Late 20th century writer ], as well as ], proudly adopted the term ''redneck'' to describe themselves.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} They may have adopted the word's possible secondary 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." ], an urban ] and ], objected strongly to Earth First!'s use of the term as "at the very least, insensitive."<ref>Bookchin, Murray; Foreman, Dave. ", South End Press, 1991. See Page 95</ref> | |||
| Author ]'s 1997 book ] explores the ] history of low-income Americans. According to Goad, rednecks are traditionally pro-labor and anti-establishment and have an anti-hierarchical religious orientation. Goad argues that elites (and a special distrust of ] who belonged to the ] from the Northeast states and the US west coast) manipulate low-income people (blacks and whites especially) through classism and racism to keep them in conflict with each other and distracted from their exploitation by elites.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} | |||
| ==Popular culture== | |||
| The ] and '']'' are popular entertainments from years past, and they, as well as entertainers ], ] and ], have seen lasting popularity within the redneck community. Entertainers like ] used homespun comedy as much as music to create a lasting ], and sophisticated and intelligent musicians like ] and ] appeared on shows such as '']'', lending credence to broad humor about uncomplicated rural Americans. | |||
| According to James C. Cobb, a history professor at the ], the redneck comedian "provided a rallying point for bourgeois and lower-class whites alike. With his front-porch humor and politically outrageous bons mots, the redneck comedian created an illusion of white equality across classes."<ref></ref> | |||
| ] was nominated for a ] in 1973 for his recording of "Rednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer," parlaying the "common touch" into financial and critical success. ] singer ] titled one of her songs "]" on her 2004 album '']''. | |||
| In recent years, the comedy of ], ], ], and ] have become popular through the "]" and '']''. Foxworthy's 1993 comedy album '']'' cajoled listeners to evaluate their own behavior in the context of stereotypical redneck behavior, and resulted in more mainstream usage of the term. | |||
| ==Exclaves== | |||
| {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2008}} | |||
| In ], descendants of resettled white southerners who are self-identified as ''Okies'' and ''Rednecks'' are widely numerous in agricultural and rural sections of the state such as ], areas of the ] the ], ] and the ]. Those areas are deemed more politically conservative and more devoutly religious; lower in household income; and its cities tend to have fewer ] vis-a-vis metropolitan areas such as ], ], and more recently, urban ]. | |||
| In the 1950s, ], California ]ians such as ], ] and ] helped develop a unique country music style called the ]. Their influence was so great that Bakersfield is second only to ], in country music fame. Bakersfield continues to produce and influence famous ] artists. | |||
| Central ] (also referred to, pejoratively, as "]") is often seen as redneck country, as in Democratic Party strategist ]'s reputed description of the state: "Philadelphia at one end, Pittsburgh at the other, Alabama in the middle." | |||
| Other exclaves can be found throughout the oil-producing areas of ]. In the second half of the 20th-Century, concurrent with the development of the oil industry and pipeline, large numbers of ] petroleum workers moved to Alaska for high pay and adventure — and many stayed. Rednecks had relocated to the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies, and North-Central states in fairly large numbers. | |||
| ] and ] are sometimes said to be the home of rednecks in ], due to its similarities to Texas (oil, farming, and ranching). Like rural people elsewhere, some Canadians continue to see this as a highly offensive term while others have claimed it and proudly describe themselves as rednecks. This difference often arises because the former consider the term to connote racist beliefs while the latter believe it implies traditional rural values (e.g., work ethic, honesty, self-reliance, simplicity and individual freedom). Rural areas of Ontario such as ] and ] counties are also said to be home to rednecks. | |||
| ==Related terms== | |||
| ===Australia and New Zealand=== | |||
| The term "]" is used in ] and ] to describe people of poor education, unemployment, cheap clothing and uncultured upbringing. There is no one ethnic heritage that ascribes a bogan, while most are from Anglo-Celtic origins. | |||
| ===The Caribbean and Latin America=== | |||
| "Poor whites" in ] (descendants largely of seventeenth century ], ], and ] ]s and deportees) were called "]." Many of these families moved to Virginia and the Carolinas as large sugar plantations replaced small tobacco farming in the ]. | |||
| In Brazil, the term "]" is used to define inhabitants from the countryside of Brazilian states (chiefly rural); they are considered the Brazilian counterparts of American rednecks. | |||
| In Chile, the term "]" describes people who work or live in the rural sectors of the country. They are described as wearing a ], straw hat and cowboy boots. | |||
| In Mexico, the slang term "]" can be used to define a lower-class Mexican who displays qualities similar to North-American rednecks such as ignorance and low-brow tastes. This word is used by middle to upper class White Mexicans in Mexico and white Mexican-Americans in the United States.<ref></ref> | |||
| In Guatemala, the slang term "Muco" is a pejorative term used as a race-discriminative term for the native people called "Indios". A "Muco" is an "Indio" who pretends belong to a higher economical-status than the one that he belongs to. | |||
| In Nicaragua, the slang term "jincho" is a pejorative term used to describe people with poor education or from the countryside. Also, "jincho patarrajadas" as a pejorative in arguments literally "bruised feet fool" implying that people from the countryside walk barefoot. | |||
| In ], the slang term '']'', originally used only as a racial definition for people of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry, is used to pejoratively refer to poor and uneducated rural people, since the vast majority of these people come from this sort of background. While it is applied universally to country people of all backgrounds by ''capitalinos'' (people from ]), in the ''interior'' (Panamanian slang for countryside) the racial connotation is retained, particularly by upper class white ] and people from provincial capitals, along with the idea of rural backwardness. Among ''cholos'' themselves the word is used as a term of endearment particularly from men towards women. By extension it is also used to jokingly and condescendingly label someone who is not up to date on current trends and/or is not tech-savvy. | |||
| ===North America=== | |||
| In the United States, the term "farmer tan" is sometimes used to refer to a sunburn, particularly when the sunburned area covers only the neck and arms of the individual. This can also refer to a suntan covering the same area. Another variation of the "farmer tan" is the trucker tan, which refers to the occurrence of the left arm being of a deeper tan than the right arm, as a result of being rested along or out of the driver's side window of the stereotypical redneck's pickup truck or tractor-trailer. | |||
| "]" or simply "cracker" was originally a ] term for a ], mainly used in the ], and still is in many instances. It has also, however, increasingly been used as a proud (or self-deprecating) term by some American whites in reference to themselves (see ] and ]). | |||
| The term "goat roper" is sometimes used as a term of derision for unsophisticated rural people in the ], ], and ]. It alludes to the belief that a person who raises or "ropes" goats is inferior to a cowboy or cattle rancher. This term may have roots in the ]s between ranchers and sheep or goat ranchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref></ref><ref></ref> The term is used in some western communities to describe individuals who prefer a western/cowboy image, but not the rugged life-style (e.g. "Him in a rodeo? Only if he's roping goats with the kids.") | |||
| The term "]", an inversion of ], is also used, but usually only with negative connotations. It was coined in the 19th century by Southern blacks to describe poor whites. The origin of the term is unknown, but this word is still used by Southern blacks to refer to Southern whites. | |||
| "]" is a term used by urban Yankees to describe rural New Englanders and ]ites. The name is denoted for their choice of residence in swamps, grasslands and/or dense forests long avoided by upper-income urbanites. "Swamp Yankees" actually want to live facing suburban areas for work opportunities. | |||
| In Canada, "redneck" is used in much the same way as it is in the United States. It is mostly used for people from rural areas of the Prairie provinces, British Columbia and Ontario. The term "]" is a recently coined corollary of redneck. Its meaning can vary significantly based on usage. It can refer to a "cold-weather redneck" from Canada, Alaska or other cold areas of North America.<ref></ref><ref></ref> It can also be used to signify a "leftist redneck."<ref></ref> | |||
| ===South Africa=== | |||
| In ], the ] term "rooinek" (meaning redneck) was derisively applied by ]s to the ] who fought during the ], because their skin was sensitive to the harsh ]n sun. The phrase is still used by ]s to describe South Africans of English descent. | |||
| ===United Kingdom=== | |||
| The term redneck is sometimes used in the UK with the same meaning as in the US. ] is also used. Whilst technically, a pikey is a traveling person, its use has spread to describe people who live in a caravan. | |||
| In Scotland, the term ']' (pronounced {{IPA|}}) is used, mainly pejoratively, of highlanders, who are viewed as rural or backwards. The name perhaps derives from ] ''teuch'', 'tough'.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| *'']'' | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| ==Sources== | |||
| * Abbey, Edward. "In Defense of the Redneck", from ''Abbey's Road: Take the Other''. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979 | |||
| * Goad, Jim. ''The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997 | |||
| * Webb, James H. ''Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America''. New York: Broadway Books, 2004 | |||
| * Weston, Ruth D. "The Redneck Hero in the Postmodern World", ''South Carolina Review'', Spring 1993 | |||
| * Wilson, Charles R. and William Ferris, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Southern Culture'', 1989 | |||
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Revision as of 15:44, 3 March 2009
A redneck is a total weirdo