In everyday understanding and use of the term, myths are untrue stories about the world, its beginnings and developments, or simply persistent, false stories about significant events in a society or community. It is usually assumed that these stories, i.e. their untruth, must be exposed in a critical manner. In contrast, there is an analytical concept of myth used in the humanities and cultural studies, which can serve as a heuristic model in the study of socially significant narratives (cf. Segal, 2015). Considering various aspects that different theorists and different disciplines use for the concept of myth, Segal suggests developing a non-rigid concept of myth, i.e. one that is not closely tied to several simultaneously occurring characteristics (Segal, 2015, p. 3ff.). In this sense, myths are initially rudimentary narratives that have a beginning and an end. The events that are shaped in them extend over time, develop around main characters, often in certain constellations of people. Myths therefore often consist of a recurring configuration of actors and actions. Their contents represent something significant for individuals and a certain group, and develop meaning for a larger group of actors, create identity and thus also fulfil social functions, such as reducing complexity and legitimation. The myth conveys strong convictions or even a kind of belief in specific interpretations. The myth exerts a certain power over those who believe in it. With Roland Barthes, one of the better-known theorists of myth, the myth can also be defined as a form of representation that appeals to interpretations that are contained in a cultural context as presupposed or assumed background beliefs. He therefore describes myth as a secondary pattern of interpretation or as a rhetoric of purloined speech (Barthes, 2012, p. 273). The functioning of myth characterised in this way can be deciphered and mythology thus becomes an instrument of criticism of the present. Barthes shows in detail how history and the historical are naturalised in the myths of everyday life, transform into nature and thus appear as unchangeable as, for example, the myth of rationality (Rationalitätsmythos), that allows no alternatives to itself (cf. Hericks, 2017).