In that context the term can be said to represent a distinct ideological tendency, originating from Aksel Larsen's split from the Communist Party of Denmark in 1956.
Larsen founded the Socialist People's Party (SF), which placed itself between communism and social democracy.
Today, both the Danish SF[2][3][4] and the Norwegian SV identify their ideological base as 'popular socialism'.
In Sweden the term has sometimes been used and there were at one point discussions within the rightist section of the Left Party on forming a political project with the Danish SF as model, but the split was eventually avoided.
Popular socialist parties participate in democratic elections to gain clout and influence policy, but do not consider the power of government as their primary goal, preferring to work within participatory systems on a local level.