The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether or not capitalism, viewed here as the system that is currently the dominant economic system in the Western world, can be seen as a modern myth or not. An author, Brian Tracy, of several popular self-help books is the target of this investigation and the language he uses in his books have been scrutinized in order to see whether or not he uses a religiously influenced, and more importantly, myth-creating language. In order to do so, Bruce Lincolns theories of myth have been used in correlation with Stefan Arvidssons definition ov myths. Also of interest is whether or not Tracy in his books uses any of the instruments of power defined by Michel Foucault to support his claims.The investigation shows that capitalism indeed can be seen as a modern myth. This claim is supported by the facts that Tracy not only uses a language heavily influenced by Christian texts and belief but furthermore because he descirbes himself and the people he claims to have helped in a way that strongly resembles the narratives of myths.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify power structures and instruments of power within the Jehovah?s witnesses and investigate how they affect the baptized youths baptized within the organization. The material consists of qualitative in-depth interviews and is analyzed with Foucault's theories of power. The results show that the participants have a very strict relationship to the rules of the congregation and also that they take great care in observing these rules carefully. It becomes evident that young members are exposed to disciplinary measures from the organization.

Denna undersökning har analyserat vilka grunder det finns för rädsla och ångest i texter relaterat till franciskanorden. Med hjälp av psykologiska teorier om vad känslor är och hur de uppkommer visar undersökningen att det finns objekt i texter som utgör källor för rädsla och ångest. De objekt för rädsla och ångest som förekommer är bland annat pengar, böcker, kläder och makt och hierarkier. Denna undersökning har även jämfört rädsla och ångest som ett Maktinstrument. De dokument som franciskanorden vilar på är inte endast baserat på ödmjukhet, som Franciskus annars förespråkade, utan även rädsla och ångest.Franciskus orden kom att förändras både under och efter hans bortgång.