White trash is a derogatory term in American English for poor white people, especially in the rural areas of the southern United States. The label signifies a social class within the white population, especially those perceived to have a degraded standard of living. It is used as a way to separate the "good poor", who are "noble and hardworking", from the "bad poor", who are deemed lazy, "undisciplined, ungrateful and disgusting". The use of the term provides middle- and upper-class whites a means of distancing themselves from the social status of poor whites, who cannot enjoy the same class privileges, as well as a way to disown their perceived behavior.