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The emphasis on the [[quaternary]] first comes to the fore in Lacan's work inthe early 1950s, and is perhaps due to the influence of Claude LÈvi-Strauss, whose work on the structure of the avunculate shows that the basic unit of kinship always involves a minimum of four terms.<ref>Levi-Strauss, 1945</ref>
Thus, in a 1953 paper which deals with the neurotic's 'individual myth' (another reference to Levi-Strauss), Lacan remarks that "there is within the neurotic a quartet situation,"<ref>Lacan, {{L}} 1953b: 231</ref> and adds that this quartet can demonstrate the particularities of each case of neurosis more rigorously than the traditional triangular thematisation of the Oedipus complex.<ref>{{L}} 1953b:232</ref>
He concludes that "the whole oedipal schema needs to be re-examined."<ref>{{L}} 1953b: 235</ref>
Thus, in addition to the three elements of the Oedipus complex (mother, child, father), Lacan often speaks of a fourth element; sometimes he argues that this fourth element is [[death]],<ref>Lacan, {{L}} 1953b: 237; S4, 431</ref> and at other times he argues that it is the [[phallus]].<ref>{{S3}} p.319</ref>
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