Editing White trash (section)

====Child rearing====

In the mid-19th century South, even upper-class parents were extremely indulgent of their children, encouraging both boys and girls to be aggressive. They soon learned that they were expected to grab for what they wanted, wrestle with their siblings in front of their parents, disobey parental orders, make a racket with their toys, and physically attack visitors. Patrician girls would later be taught to be proper young ladies, but boys continued to be unrestrained, lest they become effeminate. These behaviors &ndash; which were also practiced by poorer whites to the extent their circumstances allowed &ndash; propelled young men into gambling, drinking, whoring and fighting, all of which was more or less expected as "manly" behavior. This pattern of child-rearing was predominate in the backwoods, where it was not limited to the upper class, but could be found among yeoman and poor whites alike. For white trash, this method of raising children was combined with violent folkways inherited from their English, Irish, and Scottish progenitors.{{sfnp|Wyatt-Brown|2007|pp=138-144, 166}}{{efn|According to [[Grady McWhiney]] in ''Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South'', the majority of immigrants to the South in the 1800s came from Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, with those from Scotland coming in waves after every unsuccessful rebellion there. The immigrants were emotionally-driven lower-class "crackers" who maintained archaic clan structures, did not follow the [[Protestant work ethic]], valued comfort and hospitality, and had a sense of personal, familial, and clan honor that was easily provoked. While some of these immigrants were able to enter the Southern planter aristocracy, bringing their characteristics to the "cavaliers" in it, many were not able to elevate themselves and blended into the mass of poor Southern whites; thus these characteristics can also be found in that group.<ref>[[Wolfgang Schivelbusch|Schivelbusch, Wolfgang]] (2001) ''The Culture of Defeat: On National Trauma, Mourning, and Recovery''. New York: Picador. {{isbn|0-312-42319-5}} pp.49; 317 n.29; citing [[Grady McWhiney|McWhiney, Grady]] (1988) ''Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South''. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press {{isbn|9780817303280}}</ref>}}