There seems to be an American fascination with rednecks. Indeed, many Americans like to identify themselves as such.

Just driving around campus, one sees trucks and SUVs, maybe even cars, with a decal identifying the driver as a redneck.

Many Americans proudly display their redneck credentials via language or style of dress. They don cowboy boots, wear camouflage-themed clothing and discuss guns.

But, what is a redneck? According to the lifestyle of many self-proclaimed rednecks I meet in the Central Valley, being of this brand means identifying with an agrarian-based libertarianism and wearing clothing that signifies that allegiance (i.e.- camouflage, boots and hats).

Popular culture, however, has blurred the definition of a redneck, so much so that many who say they are actually aren’t and shouldn’t want to be.

“Duck Dynasty” (not a fan) for example, shows hardworking, seemingly good-hearted people using their intelligence and work ethic to remain millionaires. That’s great!

Other shows like “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Redneck Island” show a group of people displaying hedonistic sloth and incredible idiocy.

Yet, some shows are more like “Duck Dynasty.”

“Lady Hoggers,” for example, shows women engaging in the incredibly difficult sport (and industry) of hog hunting.

These women contract with farmers, municipalities and property owners who have been overrun with feral hogs to the point of danger and business loss. Interestingly, the hogs killed are butchered and donated to food pantries.

The show is billed as displaying a facet of redneck lifestyle, as is the case with “Duck Dynasty.” Unfortunately, all four of the aforementioned shows are billed as such.

However, there are significant differences in these programs. In fact, a case could be made that calling the folks on “Duck Dynasty” and “Lady Hoggers” rednecks is incorrect and offensive. While shows like “Honey Boo Boo” and “Buckwild” perfectly fit the description.

Hoover Institute fellow Thomas Sowell provides a historical definition of rednecks in his book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals.”

A redneck, according to this definition, is someone who works very little, participates in a fiery yet superficial protestant religiosity, all while behaving in a decidedly un-Christian manner. This includes an abhorrently promiscuous sex life, frequent drunkenness and brutish violence.

This cultural archetype, Sowell says (with other scholarly works in mind), comes from the borderlands between Scotland and England, where clans fought amongst themselves and with the British Crown.­ They practiced a version of Christianity often mixed with Celtic traditions.

When these people immigrated to North America in the late 18th and early 19th century, they brought with them this clan culture.­ They and their societal norms settled in the hidden hollows and mountaintops of the Appalachia range.

There are numerous documented cases in which we can see these new Americans at their finest.

One man in Virginia hired a person of this type to reconstruct a small building. When the man did not show up for a week, the owner gave the job to someone else. The “redneck” came to the construction site one day ready to work. When he found another person on the job, he threatened to kill the owner in the name of his family’s pride.

Due to the lack of work ethic (but bizarre pride), these people also happen to have a long tradition of participating in federal assistance programs””something very much frowned upon by many modern self-proclaimed rednecks like those on “Duck Dynasty.”

The novel “Heathen Valley” by Romulus Linney is based on Appalachian redneck culture. In the novel, we encounter violent hillbillies who practice a strange form of Christianity yet also participate in a tribal orgy somewhat related to Celtic traditions.

Such interactions are also frowned upon by the incorrectly titled “rednecks” of modernity.­ In fact, many of these people take pride in their family values and conservative sexual interactions.

The folks on “Buckwild,” “Redneck Island” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” are the inheritors of the American sub-culture known as “redneck.”­ They are an unfortunate piece of popular culture and American history.

The people who happen to live a rural lifestyle and practice an industrious craft are simply American individuals expressing pride and tradition. This type of person is exemplified by “Lady Hoggers,” “Swamp People” and “Duck Dynasty.”

One can be a proud duck hunter or bass fisherman; one might be proud of his off-road four-wheeling hobbies; one may like to wear camouflage; but one does not have to call oneself a redneck.

When intelligent, successful people call themselves rednecks, it deems acceptable the slothful, drunken, idiotic behavior of those who go by the same moniker.