Appalachian culture has many commonalities with other cultures from mountainous regions: systems of honor, strong extended family ties, and low social trust. Th

Appalachian culture has many commonalities with other cultures from mountainous regions: systems of honor, strong extended family ties, and low social trust. These cultural traits are also present in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. And all these places have had trouble adapting to industrial society. That's not a coincidence. There's a lot of research into how family clan structures, for example, inhibit the development of functioning civic institutions. Zooming out, Mormons built thriving, orderly cities in a hostile desert after being chased out of Illinois by the federal government. The plight of Appalachia is not due to external factors.