Sociotechnical Assemblages of Care: Assistive Technologies, Inequalities, and the Future of Care

Assistive technologies represent a rapidly evolving domain in the care of older adults, transforming both domestic and institutional care environments. While these technologies are predominantly deployed under the guise of enhancing independence, maintaining autonomy, and improving well-being, their expansion has sparked critical concerns. Within both public discourse and the social care sector, apprehensions regarding a potential 'loss of humanity' and the depersonalization of care are increasingly prominent.

A sociological interrogation of the widespread use of assistive technologies, such as emergency call buttons, fall-detection pads, and thermal cameras, reveals a fundamental tension. While designed to mitigate risk and facilitate rapid assistance, these devices simultaneously serve as control mechanisms. This dual nature raises pivotal questions: do these technologies genuinely empower care-dependent older adults, or do they primarily operate as instruments of surveillance and control that paradoxically curtail individual autonomy?

This session aims to scrutinise the multifaceted sociological dimensions of assistive technologies in care. We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions from diverse contexts that examine, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The shifting boundaries between care, safety, and surveillance.
• The impact of assistive technologies on the agency, dignity, and autonomy of older adults.
• How existing axes of inequality (e.g., socioeconomic status, gender, geography) shape the access to and experience of digitised care.
• The changing materiality and spatial dynamics of the home as it becomes a site of technological intervention.
• The reconfiguration of the care relationship between older adults, formal/informal caregivers, and technological artefacts.