“No Matter What We Do, Nothing Is Enough”: A Qualitative Investigation of Political Despair

ABSTRACT People often report experiencing despair about social issues like racial inequality and climate change. We conceptualise these feelings as political despair and consider: what causes political despair, that is, what are the antecedent appraisals? Participants, who felt despair about racial inequality ( N = 196) or climate change ( N = 179), responded to a prompt about why they feel despair about this issue. A framework analysis of participants responses, guided by appraisal theories of emotion, identified two broad themes (appraisals): perceptions that the issue is unjust and systemic (illegitimate) as well as being uncontrollable and unchanging (intractable). These themes (appraisals), consisting of nuanced sub‐themes, explained political despair. The study suggests that political despair may be conceptualised as a discrete emotion with specific appraisals and a core relational theme of unchangeable systemic injustice . Understanding political despair is important given its prevalence among supporters of climate justice and racial equality, and its implications for well‐being and political engagement.