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.[2]
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.[3]
He is the recipient of several book awards, including a Jury Nominee for the
Pulitzer Prize in General Non-fiction 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).[4]
Selected works
Yang-Hsu, Becky and Richard Madsen (2019). The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness Anxieties, Hopes, and Moral Tensions in Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520306325
Madsen, Richard (2007). Democracy's Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520252271
Madsen, Richard (1998). China's Catholics Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520920736
Madsen, Richard (1995). China and the American Dream: A Moral Inquiry. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520914926
Bellah, Robert Neelly, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton (1985). Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520053885
Madsen, Richard (1984). Morality and Power in a Chinese Village. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520059252
Chan, Anita, Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Unger Berkeley: University of California Press. (1984). Chen Village Revolution to Globalization. ISBN 9780520259317