This article examines the uses of the term `White Trash', as a descriptor for
identifiable sectors in the United States and Australia. Through consideration of
those sectors' history, status and culture, questions of race are addressed with a
view to determining to what extent and in what way(s) the term stands as a form of
racism. An anecdotal Australian example is employed to introduce the concept and
outline the social and linguistic parameters of the discussion, before examining the
history and social geography of the term itself and those whom it is used to define,
concentrating on those aspects that pertain to questions of race and racism, first
in the United States, then Australia. Certain of the socio-political ramifications
of `Whiteness' are touched upon, in the course of arguing that usage of the term
`White Trash' constitutes a form of `hidden', albeit consequential, racism.
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