social democracy

noun

plural social democracies

: a democratic welfare state (see welfare state sense 1) that incorporates both capitalist and socialist practices

American politicians dismiss the Scandinavian model as creeping socialism, communism lite. … In truth, social democracies are successful precisely because they foment dynamic capitalist economies that just happen to benefit every tier of society.

—Wade Davis

For in Europe, one finds that virtually all political parties embrace social democracy. This is true even for many conservative governments—not just in Scandinavia, but also in France and Germany—which have embraced the originally German idea of a social market economy in which free market excesses are tempered with support for those who are falling through the cracks.

—Klaus F. Zimmermann

social democrat noun

plural social democrats

social democratic adjective

Socialism vs. Social Democracy vs. Democratic Socialism: Usage Guide

Since the term socialism entered English around 1830, it has consistently referred to a system of social organization in which the ownership of property and the distribution of income are subject to social rather than private control. The conception of that control, however, has varied, and socialism 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 social democracies, such as Sweden and Denmark: democratically elected governments that employ some socialist practices but within a capitalist framework in the belief that extensive state regulation paired with limited state ownership produces a fair distribution of income without impairing economic growth. While in the past social democracy and democratic socialism both referred to movements seeking a fully socialist system, the two terms have diverged. Today's social democracies retain a capitalist system overall, while democratic socialism rejects capitalism fully, and seeks to establish a decentralized socialist economic system within a democratically run government.

Examples of social democracy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet, from today’s vantage point, social democracy appears less firmly planted in Latin America than Grandin allows. —The New Yorker, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2025

The humane social democracies that flourished in early-twentieth-century Latin America also anticipated and later reinforced Roosevelt’s New Deal. —Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025

The approach shows an ideological difference between the U.S. and European social democracies that accept a baseline responsibility to provide social safety nets, said Farah Khan, a fellow at Brookings Metro’s Center for Community Uplift. —Lorie Konish, CNBC, 9 Mar. 2025

But Switzerland, though it is rarely held up as an exemplar by those on the political left, is far richer than the Scandinavian social democracies and just as fair. —Ruchir Sharma, Foreign Affairs, 17 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for social democracy

• aristocracy
• meritocracy
• autocracy
• bureaucracy
• hypocrisy
• plutocracy
• theocracy