Legislation can itself educate and convert a public that did not change beforehand

Evidence

Finally, Allport recognized laws as a fundamental socializing agent that could have profound influence on attitudes. He argued that attitudes have to be changed to a certain degree to pass legislation, but “when the initial work has been done, then the legislation in turn becomes educative. The masses of people do not become converts in advance; rather they are converted by the fait accompli… . They allow themselves to be re-educated by the new norm that prevails” (p. 471). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 133

Categorization

• XREF: This is the institutional/legal path to attitude change — connects to the vault’s contact-theory claims and how norms override prejudice, pertinent to the ‘complaints about immodesty’ legislative-norms parallel and how legal fait accompli reshapes discriminatory norms. — connects to: Restoring beauty requires public understanding, not just legislation — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 619
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 133