Madsen received his A.B. at the Department of
Philosophy at Maryknoll College and his B.D. (1967) and M.Th. (1968) at Maryknoll Seminary. He then moved to
Taiwan to study at the Chinese Language Institute in
Fu Jen Catholic University (1968-1970) and at the Department of Sociology at
National Taiwan University (1970-1971). Upon his return to the
United States, he completed his M.A. in
Religious Studies (1972) and Ph.D. in Sociology (1977), both on East Asia from Harvard. He joined the University of California, San Diego since 1983 and was promoted to Professor in 1985. He was Chair of the Program in Chinese Studies between 1984 and 1987. He was a co-director of a Ford Foundation project to help revive the academic discipline of sociology in China and was Director of UC Fudan Center at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. He is the recipient of several book awards, including a Jury Nominee for the
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the
L.A. Times Book Award for
Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (1985), as well as the C. Wright Mills Award for
Morality and Power in a Chinese Village (1984). == Analysis ==