Shaping societal norms: Experimental evidence on the normative impact of free speech law

Do laws shape values? We explore this question by testing a model of law and norms within a legal realm − U.S. obscenity laws − where economic incentives are not the primary drivers of social change. Our randomized experiment had data entry workers transcribe news reports of either progressive or conservative legal decisions. This design allowed us to observe the impact of these laws on attitudes and norms. We found that exposure to progressive legal decisions resulted in the liberalization of sexual attitudes and a shift in norm perceptions, though not in self-reported behavior. These findings underscore the expressive power of law, with significant implications for decision-making in social and political settings, as well as for the empirical predictions of theoretical models within these domains.