Category:Motivational ambivalence

The entries in this category characterise the working of informal power and its motivational ambivalence. Informal power works through both incentives (carrots) and disincentives (sticks) that are not exercised exclusively top-down or bottom-up. In most cases, however, informal power is exercised in less violent and more nuanced forms of indirect pressure that result in compliance and even self-censorship. Peer pressure and informal checks and balances are the instruments of informal governance but are also examples of motivational ambivalence.