h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A hick can be a redneck but not all rednecks are hicks. Classically, rednecks have red necks from working outdoors in the sun doing construction work or whatever. Redneck implies politically conservative. A hick is just a country bumpkin, also called a hayseed.
Rednecks are more likely to be unionized than hicks.

I live in western Kentucky. I've seen a lot of both.

'Hick' is a general term for people who live 'out in the sticks', or farmers. It's derogatory, but you can't really define a hick. Rednecks tend to be bigoted, conservative, drive pickup trucks, and feel very strongly about tradition (i.e., don't want their kids to go to college because they think it's 'uppity'). There *is* a difference, however, it's not really apparent to anyone outside of the southern US.