Abstract
This article examines how SMOs (social movement organizations) organize in extreme contexts through caring agency and an ethic of care, working to normalize death in end-of-life and integrate it into mainstream healthcare. The longitudinal and qualitative empiric study investigates how social movement organizations (SMOs) have shaped the discourse of hospice care in Finland from 1982 to 2024. I have identified four key periods in the institutionalization of hospice care: conceptual definition (1982-2000), critique and awakening (1997-2004), activism and advocacy (2005-2014), and systematization and institutionalization (2015-2024). The analysis is based on media material using an abductive and discursive approach. The research aims to show how SMOs address institutional gaps in end-of-life care while promoting a care ethical framework that recognizes shared vulnerability. This study aims to make a novel contribution by examining the understudied intersection of SMOs and care ethics.