Not simply
I had always asssumed that they were just resistors, but they aren't. I looked them up on good ol' Wiki and all was revealed - they are simple, but not that simple, but there are different designs/principles.
This was flagged-up to me a while ago here, as someone actually had their attenuators the wrong way round. I am pretty sure Jez sussed what was up.
Because they (usually) have a male RCA one end and female the other, they are meant to be fitted at one end or the other of an IC - changing the end, changes their "polarity". So far as I am aware, both types are available.