Nathan Fosse ,Sociology Department, Harvard University





	Nathan Fosse Graduate Student in Sociology Biographical Note Nathan Fosse's research looks at the influence of perceptions and expectations of the future influence drug use and sexual decision-making among low-income young adults. This work draws from over 100 in-depth interviews with low-income men as well as from two major longitudinal surveys. 08/24/2011 Curriculum Vitae Research Interests social stratification, sociology of health, sociology of culture Previous Degrees B.A. Psychology Qualifying Paper Title The Repertoire of Infidelity among Low- Income Men: Doubt, Duty, and Destiny Committee Michele Lamont, Neil Gross, Bill Wilson Abstract In an effort to explain the rise of unwed parenthood in the inner city over the past several decades, a large body of research has attributed the phenomenon in part to low-income men�s unwillingness to commit to long-term, monogamous relationships. A major limitation of these studies, however, is that virtually none attempt to understand relationship dissolution by comparing low-income inner-city men in monogamous and nonmonogamous long-term heterosexual relationships. Drawing from a convenience sample of thirty-eight low-income monogamous and nonmonogamous men, this article develops a typology of three cultural logics of action used by respondents to motivate behavior in relationships: doubt, duty, and destiny. These cultural logics help to explain how poverty influences sexual action; nevertheless, this typology supports an emerging literature demonstrating the ways in which the sexual �culture of poverty� is contingent, contradictory, indeterminate, and multivocal. Prospectus Title �When Tomorrow is Never Promised�: Drug Use, Sexual Health, and Beliefs Toward the Future among Low-Income Emerging Adults Committee Michele Lamont, William Julius Wilson, Kathy Edin Abstract As a corrective to the cultural deficit models of inner-city sexual and drug cultures, and drawing from more nuanced cultural analyses of the poor, this project examines sexual risk-taking by incorporating low-income men�s perceptions toward their own mortality. The main research questions are: a) how does belief in imminent mortality inform low-income men's sexual and drug use behaviors?; b) what are the aspects of low-income men's lives that they draw upon when accounting belief in imminent mortality?; and c) what are the racial and ethnic differences in perceptions of imminent mortality? Using several longitudinal surveys, as well as from in-depth interviews with low-income men in Boston, this study provides the first comprehensive study examining the salience and predictive value of belief in imminent mortality on sexual risk taking. In contrast, all previous research has either been cross-sectional or restricted to one geographic state or neighborhood; no research has examined how perceptions of mortality are incorporated into low-income men�s narratives. In addition, no research has examined racial and ethnic differences in belief in imminent mortality. Preliminary evidence suggests that belief in imminent mortality is predicted by both family socioeconomic background and by youths� race, and that it is a robust predictor of sexual risk-taking. The findings from this project will have relevance for social policy makers as well as scholars interested in understand the causes and consequences of urban poverty. First, they examine implications for this research on racial and socioeconomic disparities in health, highlighting the ways in which exposure to violence may increase the propensity to engage in sexual risk. Second, by relying on a risk and resilience framework, this study moves from a �deficit� model of sexual risk, to one that examines the diversity of behaviors among disadvantaged men, contributing to research on what makes societies and individuals �successful." Third, this study informs psychological and demographic studies of health, by incorporating empirically the perspectives of low-income men. Miscellaneous Additional Information Optional Sections on General Exams Culture, Gender (honors) Oral Exam Topic The Sociology of Health Disparities Software Skills Stata, SAS, SPSS, HLM, R, Atlas.ti	Contact 617-496-5794 (FAX)