Social Democracy is a reformist political strategy that aims to win certain improvements in social and economic conditions under capitalism, without challenging the underlying precepts of wage labour and production for profit.
It tends to have a strong adherence to socialism, more so than democracy so it is quite easy to be misguided by the label. It is democratic in the sense that it allows the existence of capitalism which the socialist regimes always detested.
It is a democracy that sees a transition from capitalism towards socialism that takes effect rather gradually. Social democracy has a subtle ideological connection with communism since they stem from the same roots since revised Marxist doctrines are opted for by the many social-democratic countries.
For example, Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland) see the practice of social democracy at present. For one, the Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) is highly invested in social democratic ideologies and their leader, Jonas Gahr Støre is to be the Prime Minister of Norway after the 2021 parliamentary election.
Use of the Term in Sentences
- Social democracy is an economic and political philosophy that combines socialism and democracy in terms of characteristics.
- Utopian socialism and republicanism are at the core of social democracy in France.
- Segregationist movements were major building blocks of the social democracy in the United States of America.