What Is the Success Sequence and Does It Live Up to Its Hype?

The “success sequence” sounds good. Here’s why it’s mostly just propaganda.

Photo by Angela Ng on Unsplash

Is there a formula for staying out of poverty? Some have suggested that the “success sequence” is the answer, and politicians and pundits have sometimes repeated that claim. The promise of the success sequence is that if young adults follow these three steps, in this order, they will greatly reduce their chances of ending up impoverished:

1. Graduate from high school
2. Get a full-time job
3. Get married — before having kids

Some of the proponents of the plan want a full-court press of support for the success sequence. That would include “public and private social marketing campaigns on behalf of marriage and the ‘success sequence’” as well as “a range of educational, pop cultural, business, and civic organizations” getting in on the act of advocating for the success sequence.

Economic security is important to psychological well-being. Does that mean we should be pouring money into the promotion of the success sequence, and particularly in what is posited as the pinnacle of success in the model — getting married? Is that a good investment if the goal is to reduce poverty?

Endorsing the success sequence as an answer to poverty means that you think all three components are necessary and that the steps should be followed in exactly the sequence that is specified. Is that really true? Expressing skepticism about the success sequence is not a way of saying that education and jobs are not important, or that people should not get married if they want to. Skeptics have other problems with investing money and promotional efforts into this idea. Here are some of them.

One factor is more important than the others, and it isn’t marriage

Attorney and policy analyst Matt Bruenig argues that the success of the success sequence is all about one step in the process — getting a full-time job: “None of the rules provide meaningful poverty reduction after you have applied the full-time work rule.” Adding marriage to the equation, he thinks, is a way for conservatives to “smuggle…