Redneck is a derogatory term currently applied to some lower-class and working class Southerners. The term, which came into common usage in the 1930's, is derived from the redneck’s beginnings as a “yeoman farmer” whose necks would burn as they toiled in the fields . . .
Rednecks are not necessarily poor and not necessarily farmers, although rednecks can certainly be each of these things. What differentiates rednecks from poor whites is the perception of rednecks as racist, hot-headed, too physical, violent, uncouth, loud, mean, uneducated and proud of it. The stereotypes follow: Rednecks do not adopt politically correct speech and are proud to be brutally honest about their feelings about nonwhites. Rednecks like to fight to solve their problems, preferring to beat someone at a street dance than to talk about the problem and solve it diplomatically. Rednecks come to the dinner table barefooted not because they have no shoes, but to specifically sneer at rules. Redneck women smoke cigarettes, chew gum, and wear curlers and put on makeup in public. The redneck rebels against education and against standard English, refusing to speak as others would have him or her speak. Rednecks hunt proudly, take baths only occasionally, and work on old cars in their front yard. Rednecks are characterised by excess; they eat too much, drink too much, smoke too much, play too hard, and live too hard. The outsider’s perception of all these things differentiates the redneck from the poor white.
The history of different societies has always been marked by periods of persecution and violence, sometimes extreme, targeting the outsider, that is the enemy of the time. Whilst there are many such groups that don't endear themselves, who live on the edge of the law of the land, who take without contributing, it's still stigmatising them, and more importantly, oneself, to use offensive terminology. Treating others in the same way as one would wish to be treated, that's the real definition of being civilised.
