Religious freedom and microsociology of law: Thinking with Georges Gurvitch

The article focuses primarily on the levels of socio-legal analysis of religious freedom, applying Georges Gurvitch's microsociology of law approach. By doing that, the authors examine the concepts of levels in depth of law, types of social milieu, and types of freedom in a way that they can be applied in the analysis of religious freedom. Several cases concerning religious freedom that depict various levels in depth are examined to illustrate Gurvitch's thesis that a sociological focus on intuitive and spontaneous experiences of religious freedom is highly important. The authors conclude that Gurvitch's dialectical method allows for an expansion of the analysis of normativity in sociology and has special implications for legislating and interpreting legal provisions