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Paper short abstract

This paper contrasts ethnography within care homes and technology-enabled care services with artists' speculations of care futures. By juxtaposing everyday realities against creative reimaginings, I unsettle assumptions about 'care crises' with possible visions for more 'careful' ageing societies.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines England's social care system through two contrasting approaches: ethnographic research and artistic speculation. Despite decades of campaigning declaring "care is in crisis," England's adult social care system remains undervalued and understaffed, demanding new perspectives in the face of political inaction.

The ethnographic approach explored mundane caring realities across three settings: care homes, technology companies' offices and call centres, and public spaces where charities support older people and kin-based carers. These sites represent distinct publics within the care sector—people receiving care, people providing care, and digital technology developers hoping to mediate these connections—revealing everyday challenges of delivering ‘good’ care amid systemic constraints.

The creative component invited illustrators and a writer to reimagine care futures using ethnographic case studies as inspiration. Rather than working within current system limitations, these artists speculated freely based on their own aspirations and fears of support in later life.

Juxtaposing these materials—grounded ethnographic present versus imaginative futures, embodied realities versus speculative possibilities—creates productive tension. This dialogue between interlocutors' lived experiences and collaborators' visions illuminates what a more "careful" aging society could become in England.

I challenge conventional care reform discussions by combining immediate caring challenges with liberated thinking about alternatives. By placing everyday care experiences alongside creative reimaginings, the paper unsettles polarising assumptions about inevitable ‘care crises’, suggesting pathways toward preferred care futures that transcend current political and systemic enclosures. This dual approach offers fresh perspectives for envisioning how care can look, feel, and be imagined otherwise.