social democracy

noun

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of social democracy

1 : a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means

2 : a democratic welfare state that incorporates both capitalist and socialist practices

—

social democrat

noun

—

social democratic

adjective

See social democracy defined for English-language learners

socialism vs. social democracy

In the many years since socialism entered English around 1830, it has acquired several different meanings. It refers to a system of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control, but the conception of that control has varied, and the term has been interpreted in widely diverging ways, ranging from statist to libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. In the modern era, "pure" socialism has been seen only rarely and usually briefly in a few Communist regimes. Far more common are systems of social democracy, now often referred to as democratic socialism, in which extensive state regulation, with limited state ownership, has been employed by democratically elected governments (as in Sweden and Denmark) in the belief that it produces a fair distribution of income without impairing economic growth.

Recent Examples of social democracy from the Web

Brad’s areas of expertise include technological and industrial revolutions; finance and corporate control; the long-term shape of economic history; and the rise and fall of social democracy.

— annalee newitz, Ars Technica, "Bay Area: Join us 4/11 to discuss the tech boom and the fate of democracy," 4 Apr. 2018
Instead of showing us a Federation slowly getting itself together and taking the difficult path toward social democracy, the show gave us the plot equivalent of the logical fallacy that bad things turn good when compared to even worse things.

— annalee newitz, Ars Technica, "Star Trek Discovery: “I’ve made a lot of bad emotional choices”," 7 Feb. 2018
What will happen if Democrats continue heading left toward high-tax, high-unemployment, European-style social democracy is anyone’s guess.

— morton kondracke, WSJ, "Closing the ‘Empathy Gap’," 25 July 2017
Millenials and the generation below them seem more amenable both to government and to Western Europe-style social democracy than do their elders.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "‘Gun Control’ Has Outlived Its Usefulness," 24 Feb. 2018
Adler, the son of the legendary founder of Austro-Hungarian social democracy, calmly waited to be arrested.

— The Economist, "Talking headsThe scientific debates of the Vienna circle," 11 Jan. 2018
But at least Denmark recognizes that social democracy requires democracy, free speech, and the rule of law to keep it from turning into Venezuela on the Baltic.

— jonah goldberg, National Review, "Despite Venezuela, Socialism Is Still Popular in the U.S.," 20 Dec. 2017
The ’60s was the decade in which consumer markets were booming, with profits and wages both rising as social democracies consolidated their welfare systems, in determined repudiation of any need for workers’ revolution.

— Longreads, "Living Differently: How the Feminist Utopia Is Something You Have to Be Doing Now," 21 Jan. 2017
Pluralist social democracy is stuck in a finger trap of math and bigotry, where to pull on one end (support for diversity) seems to naturally strain the other (support for equality).

— derek thompson, The Atlantic, "The Doom Loop of Modern Liberalism," 24 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'social democracy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of social democracy

1848