Bow to the Queen: A Study of Perceived Classism and Communication in Renaissance Faire Subculture

"Bow to the Queen" is an investigation of the presence of classism within the American renaissance faire subculture and the way it impacts communication between community members. While "rennie" subculture has been the subject of many ethnographies in the past, this thesis uses quantitative data to first identify the state of classism and then analyze any effects or correlations it maintains with communication. The literature review shows that unlike past studies, "Bow to the Queen" does not compare members of the renaissance faire community to outsiders, but rather defines the complex social structure and uses it to compare different subgroups of "rennies" to each other. After composing and releasing a survey designed to discreetly measure community members' communication patterns and attitudes toward fellow participants, 100 surveys were collected from current renaissance faire employees from 29 different festivals around the United States. Questions primarily inquired about the relationships between members of the community who stay local to one festival versus those who travel the festival circuit full-time. While results did not prove a definitive nor direct relationship between the presence of classism and increased or decreased communication, they did show that the prevalence of prejudice between social echelons is a far more nuanced construct than was first considered. Ultimately, the significance of this study comes down to the way it demonstrates a fair and thorough treatment of fringe subcultures that are often looked at superficially by the academic community, and by doing so help prevent the pathologization of such cultures in the future.