Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

A Look at Southern Kentucky

Courtney Ivey
University of Kentucky

Author Note
Courtney Ivey

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

Abstract
This paper explores the culture of southern Kentucky and serves to defeat the stereotypes that
define it. First, using websites such as the U.S Census Bureau that document the data of southern
Kentucky, this paper examines what defines this culture, what these people believe, and some of
their social norms. Also, using words defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I show that
there are actual definitions that try to define the southern culture. Next, using articles from the
web, this paper gives examples of multiple stereotypes placed on the people of the south. Finally,
two interviews conducted with members of the southern Kentucky culture, Josh and Dustin, will
be implicated as evidence to break these stereotypes found from the web. Their first-hand
experience, growing up in and being a part of the southern culture, helps society to understand
that not all the beliefs they have are true for all people living in the south. This paper serves to
demonstrate the knowledge learned about southern culture through online research and face to
face interviews with members of this culture. By using this research and the interviews
conducted this paper serves to educate the people about this culture, and to prevent the use of
stereotypes as ways of jumping to conclusions about this and any other culture.

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

A Look at Southern Culture

Stereotype is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a widely held but fixed and
oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing (Merriam-Webster (2011)).
In society, it is fundamentally impossible to understand and be completely knowledgeable about
all the different cultures present around the world. Its nearly impossible to understand all of the
cultures present within a persons city, let alone the world. America itself is one huge mosaic of
cultures! Typically, when we think of the word culture things like religion and ethnicity come to
mind. But culture goes beyond those boundaries. A culture is really any group comprised of
individuals that share something in common based on things such as their beliefs, morals,
interests, place of living, etc. For example, I am a Caucasian, female, Christian that lives in the
Cincinnati area and enjoys running, anatomy, and the University of Kentucky mens basketball.
All of those things, plus many others, define who I am and makes me a part of multiple different
cultures. Often times we do not fully understand a culture; so, using what we do know about
some of the people within that culture, we make assumptions about the culture as a whole and
base all of our perceptions about that culture on the judgment of those few individuals.
One culture in particular that is commonly stereotyped is that of southern Kentucky.
Those living within this culture could tell you just how beautiful and unique that southern
Kentucky really is. There are some stereotypes that arent bad ones, and I have confirming
results that say these stereotypes hold true! But, those who are uneducated of the true
characteristics that define this culture may define southern Kentucky with cruel and harsh
stereotypes such as saying southerners are a bunch of dumb, lazy, hillbillies that have strong
opinions and obnoxious personalities. Those are some brutal judgments. Although there may be

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

a few people in the south that really are that bad, the majority are not like that at all. I am here to
tell you what truly defines southern Kentucky.

The southern culture is typically perceived in two ways; one of these is that the south is
mainly rural towns full of farmers and religious, well-mannered folk. These are a few of the nicer
stereotypes I would consider to be mostly true. There isnt anything demeaning about living on a
farm, praising Jesus, and being a kind hearted person!
First, according to the U.S Census Bureau, in 2010 Kentucky had fourteen million acres
of farmland. Thats fourteen times as much farmland as states up north such as Connecticut,
Maine, and New Jersey were said to have. Also, even being the most northern southern state,
Kentucky was recorded to have more farmland than states more geographically southern such as
Alabama with only nine million acres, as well as Tennessee with eleven million acres
(Agriculture: Farms and Farmland (2014, May 28). So yes, its true; Kentucky does have a lot
of farms! This stereotype is confirmed once again in an interview I conducted during my

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

research. Josh, a thirty year old male from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, in response to me asking if
he ever grew up on a farm said, Yes I did. Theres a lot of people that live on a farm where Im
from (J. Phelps, personal communication, October 11, 2014). Out of Kentuckys 40,409 square
miles, more than half of that (21,875 square miles) is farmland. So, if society wants to stereotype
southern Kentucky as a bunch of rural towns full of farms, they can without a doubt.
The second stereotype associated with the south is that southern Kentucky and the south
in general is a pretty religious region. According to a religious landscape survey done by
PewResearch, only twelve percent of people living in Kentucky are unaffiliated with religion at
all while the majority, forty-nine percent, are Evangelical Protestant (Religious Landscape
Survey (2013)). Although this data confirms that the majority of people in Kentucky are
religious, it is not a proper stereotype to say that only people in the south are religious.
According to the religious landscape survey, the majority of the United States as a whole
denominates themselves into a religious sector. While twenty-six percent are Evangelic
Protestant and twenty-four percent are Catholic, only seventeen percent were said to be
unaffiliated with any religion at all (Religious Landscape Survey (2013)). The reason that the
south gets stereotyped as so religious may be due to the amount of importance that they put on it.
According to both of the men I interviewed, religion does play a big role in their hometowns. I
would say the church is a big part of our community. There are multiple churches and a lot of
people, especially the older people, attend every time there is service held (D. Sexton, personal
communication, October 9, 2014). This is what Dustin had to say on the matter. In addition to
that, my other interviewee told me about how involved the church is in the community. They
take part in the parade, and any type of festival that goes on the church pretty much threw it (J.
Phelps, personal communication, October 11, 2014). While it seems that people in the south have

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

a closer connection with the churches they are associated with, people in the north may not have
that close of a connection. Because of this closer association with their churches, southerners
may be stereotyped as more religious.
While both of the above mentioned stereotypes have a lighter attitude to them, most of
the stereotypes found about southerners seem to have a negative connotation. A lot of times
people living in the south are thought of as dumb, lazy, opinionated rednecks. Most of these
stereotypes are probably formulated through the media. Television shows, from the past and
even now, do a pretty good job of depicting southerners in this way. For example, a reality show
known as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo plays on Country Music Television. This show is about a
dirty, lazy, rude family living in the south with an aspiring young pageant princess. They dont
clean up after themselves, theyre always complaining about working, and they dont have any
manners. With this kind of representation, people in the north just stereotype all or most
southerners to behave this way.

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

One of the most common derogatory stereotypes is that people from Kentucky and in the
south are uneducated. This belief is very inaccurate. Although, I suppose it depends on what you
personally believe is the definition of uneducated. Now a days it seems that to be educated is
to earn a college degree. But, if you dont need a college degree to pursue what you want to do
with the rest of your life then why would you waste your money? According to the United States
Census Bureau approximately eighty-two percent of people living in Kentucky ages twenty-five
and older received high school education or more (Ryan, C., & Siebens, J. (2012)). This doesnt
seem like too bad of a number, but Kentucky actually has the third lowest percentage of people
that attained a high school education or more! Maybe that is why southern Kentucky is
stereotyped as dumb. But again, this is falsely accusing the culture as stupid. Dustin brought up a
good point when I asked for his opinion on the matter. I wanted to go to college and go into
mechanical engineering. But other people, all they want to do is farm! So, I think it just depends

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

on each person (D. Sexton, personal communication, October 9, 2014). What he was saying to
me was that some people dont see the need to spend all kinds of money on getting a college
degree when the career theyre choosing to pursue doesnt require one. A lot of people in the
south are farmers and you dont need a college degree for that. So, although it is true that
Kentucky has the least amount of college degree pursuers, it doesnt necessarily mean that its
people are dumb. For example, Dustin, who has a deep country accent and comes from down in
the south, said to me, I graduated as the salutatorian of my class with a 4.3 grade point average,
and I took honors and advanced placement classes. So, no I dont think that just because you
have an accent means youre stereotypically stupid or slower than everyone else. I think youre
just as smart, it just depends on how you apply yourself (D. Sexton, personal communication,
October 9, 2014). I believe thats a good way to summarize the effects of that stereotype. You
are as educated as you make yourself to be. Not everyone in the south has any more than a high
school diploma, but honestly they just dont need one.
The next stereotype I hope to diminish is that of the lazy redneck. Most people probably
dont even know where the term redneck came from. I know I wasnt aware until I did my
research on southern culture! The Merriam-Webster definition of a redneck is a white person
who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a
working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and
attitudes that are offensive (Merriam-Webster (2011)). In the interview I conducted with Josh,
he enlightened me on the true meaning behind the term, Yes, people have called me a redneck.
And the whole thing started with people from the country working outside, and they would get a
tan line on their neck and their arms. So their neck would be red, so they started calling them a
redneck (J. Phelps, personal communication, October 11, 2014). So, getting a sunburned neck

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

from working all day outside in the heat is where the name redneck came from. That doesnt
sound like a lazy person to me! Maybe I am still not completely educated about the whole
thought of someone being a redneck, because Dustin believes in the idea. Maybe somehow the
true definition, which seems to be what Josh told me in his interview, got mixed up with what
society has now termed a redneck to be - which is what I cited from the Merriam-Webster
dictionary. Because, when I asked Dustin what he thought characterized a redneck he told me, I
think its someone who is really lazy, to a point that they dont want to work and they dont want
to do anything. They just want to go and hangout and have fun all the time with their friends and
everything get drunk, and drive trucks, and just be obnoxious and annoying (D. Sexton,
personal communication, October 9, 2014). Its funny that the person I interviewed went from
being the stereotyped to the person who was doing the stereotyping! It seems that calling
someone a redneck is about perception. The definition of a redneck is a little wobbly and so
maybe its just a made up name to degrade people in the south.
One final note to make about southern culture is that they do hold very strong opinions
regarding politics, but whats so wrong about that? We all hold opinions about things. The
people in the south just come together as a culture to hold these opinions because they all believe
the same things. Kentucky is a highly conservative state. They believe in the traditional way of
doing things and limited government interference. They believe in the right to bear arms and are
against things like abortion and high taxes. In both of the interviews I conducted, Josh and
Dustin agreed that southerners are very opinionated and hold to their beliefs. But, why is it just
the south that gets stereotyped with strong opinions and beliefs? Liberals are renowned for their
movements and protesting. Its unfair for people to say that its just republicans or just
southerners that are opinionated. Everyone has a right to their own opinions, and I believe that

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

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everyone has them. Maybe southerners just have a more provocative way of displaying their
views.
In conclusion, southern Kentucky is ultimately perceived through stereotypes made by
uneducated people that use what knowledge they believe they have from things they view in the
media. The south and Kentucky are beautiful places to be, I know from my own experience. The
people of the south are so genuine and kind, the food is delicious, and the work ethic is
unbelievable. The famous phrase you shouldnt believe everything you hear is exactly the rule
that people should follow. You shouldnt judge a culture that you arent fully knowledgeable
about. I believe that until you take the time to talk to people within a culture, or you go and
experience that culture for yourself, that you cannot make assumptions. So often I see the way
that the south gets stereotyped. Like I said once before, the south is perceived as a culture in two
distinctly different ways the south is a place full of rural towns and farmland with kind,
religious folk, or as a place full of obnoxious, opinionated, rednecks. Even though there may be a
little truth behind each one of these stereotypes, its not what defines the culture at all. There is
so much more to the wonderful south and southern Kentucky. Society needs to quit basing their
opinions off of what they dont actually know. We should go out and experience more cultures
and become more cultured ourselves by doing so. I know that I have learned so much more about
southern Kentucky and what it means to be a southerner. I hope that the data presented in this
paper and my shared experiences help to open the minds of people with influenced opinions
about southern Kentucky. I believe that stereotypes are always going to be present in this world,
but if we continue to educate one another we can decrease the number of prejudiced views.

Running Head: A LOOK AT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY

References
Interview with Dustin conducted on October 9, 2014.
Interview with Josh conducted on October 11, 2014.
Agriculture: Farms and Farmland. (2014, May 28). Retrieved October 19, 2014, from
https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/agriculture/farms_and_farmland.html
Religious Landscape Survey. (2013). Retrieved October 19, 2014, from
http://religions.pewforum.org/maps
Ryan, C., & Siebens, J. (2012). Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009. Retrieved
October 19, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p20-566.pdf
stereotype. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotype
redneck. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redneck

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