Provoked overreaction from antagonists is a deliberate tactic to enlist third-party allies.

Evidence

In addition to action aimed directly at a third party such as the general public or the government, politicized collective identity should also motivate strategic action that appears to target an immediate out-group or antagonist but that can meaningfully be understood only if its intended indirect effect on the third party is taken into account. Many social movement activities provide illustrative examples. Although militant civil rights activists have often selected their segregationist or racist opponents (e.g., all-White schools or companies) as immediate targets of their disruptive collective actions, the strategic or ultimate goal of such actions was obviously to provoke the attention of and intervention by third parties such as the general public, the media, or the federal government (McAdam, 1982). Moreover, in such scenarios, politicized group members not only plan and strategically implement their own behavior to involve a third party and to force it to take sides, they may also intentionally provoke and instrumentalize the reaction of the immediate target for the same purposes. Thus, striking workers can deliberately provoke an overreaction from their employers to induce the government to intervene or the general public to take sides with the workers. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4452

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A third party can provoke war between two others by staging an ambiguous act — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 832; Protesters strategically provoke opponents to force third-party intervention and support. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4452; Group conflicts cannot be understood without accounting for third parties — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4453

Broader Connections

• Protesters strategically provoke opponents to force third-party intervention and support. #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4452
• A third party can provoke war between two others by staging an ambiguous act #responds-to (0.75) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 832
• Group conflicts cannot be understood without accounting for third parties #expands (0.70) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4453