Carolyn Chen

Job title: 
Professor
Department: 
Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies
Comparative Ethnic Studies
Ethnicity, Immigration, Race, Religion
Bio/CV: 
Degree

Ph.D., Sociology, University of California at Berkeley 
M.A., Sociology, University of California at Berkeley
A.B., Sociology, Brown University

Carolyn Chen received her doctorate in Sociology from UC Berkeley in 2002. Prior to teaching at Berkeley, she was Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at Northwestern University, where she served as Director of the Asian American Studies Program. Professor Chen’s research focuses on two areas: work and religion in contemporary America, and religion, race, and ethnicity, especially among Asian Americans. She is author of Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience (link is external)(Princeton 2008) and co-editor of Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity and Religion among the Latino and Asian-American Second Generation (link is external)(NYU 2012). Her new book is Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley (link is external)(Princeton 2022).

Courses Taught


Race, Ethnicity, and Religion

Religions in Asian America

Contemporary Issues in Asian American Communities

Children of Immigrants

Social Science Research Methods

Research interests: 

At UC Berkeley, Professor Chen is Co-Director of the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, a member of the Center for Chinese Studies, and the Religious Diversity Cluster at the Othering and Belonging Institute, and an affiliate in the Department of Sociology.

Role: