When you look up either “redneck” or “hillbilly”, all you have to do is look at the images they bring up to understand that people have a particular image for these “mountain people”. What comes up are pictures of obese, toothless, sun dried people. But the more you look through the images, the more you also see regular people, usually farmers or southerners that are not afraid to work hard or get dirty. So what are the stipulation of being a redneck or hillbilly? Stacy Kranitz of Vice recently published an article (http://www.vice.com/read/what-it-means-to-be-a-redneck-or-a-hillbilly-ang) talking about the difference between the two. It is summed up by the quote,

“Redneck is a state of action. You do things to be a redneck. Shoot guns, drink domestic beer, support right-wing politics. White trash, hick, etc. are states of being. You are these things because of what you are. Class, worldview, etc. Hillbilly is a state of mind, though. It’s metaphysical and ephemeral and contradictory”.

Towards the beginning of her piece, Kranitz introduced the fact that the meanings have changed. Whereas redneck used to be more offensive, because it referred to a rough group of union workers, the meaning has been adapted by many southerners as positive. They prove that they are rednecks by owning big trucks, and talking with a thick accent. This affirms the quote above, who says that being redneck is a state of action. Being a hillbilly in society today means that you are country, you live what rednecks only take some aspects from.