Are Democratic Socialists the same as Social Democrats?
Yes, kind of maybe, but I have reservations
“In a stark, crimson-soaked tableau reminiscent of a bygone era, the triumphant figure of Zohran Mamdani rises above a shadowed New York City skyline, his form emblazoned in revolutionary red. With arms thrust skyward, he hoists aloft a gleaming, ominous hammer and sickle, its stark orange silhouette cutting through the darkness, an undeniable declaration against the familiar urban backdrop. Below this stark, commanding visage, the bold, defiant legend “THE RED APPLE” reclaims the city’s iconic nickname, transforming it into a chilling epithet that heralds a new, ideologically charged dawn.”
Thanks to Gemini for describing today’s New York Post cover so intuitively and dramatically.
So yes, a democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani is going to be the next Mayor of New York City and it seems to scare some people.
What is Democratic Socialism?
Bernie Sanders has long talked about socialism, how to make America a country where tax dollars are used to help the poor instead of lining the pockets of the 1%.
A Georgetown University article from 2015 describes Bernie Sanders’ visit to the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service like this:
Democratic socialism means creating a just society in America that provides the kind of rights spelled out in 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said today at Georgetown.
“He saw one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished,” explained Sanders to a packed audience of Georgetown students, faculty and staff in Gaston Hall. “And he acted, against the ferocious opposition of the ruling class of his day. … Roosevelt implemented a series of programs that put millions of Americans back to work, took them out of dire poverty and restored their faith in government.”
“Almost every program he produced, every idea he introduced, was called socialist”
FDR’s use of tax dollars to pull people out of poverty, the “New Deal” that ran between 1933 and 1938 as a remedy to the 1929 recession, was called socialist at the time, but he himself never called it socialism, or identified as a socialist.
On the contrary, he said he was saving capitalism.
In a same way, president Obama was saving capitalism when he bailed out Wall Street banks and car companies after 2008 recession. I don’t remember many people calling that socialism, though. How funny! (this was sarcasm)
Also, President Trump’s recent intrusion and interference of Intel, Nvidia, AMD, and quantum companies has not been called out as socialism. Funny indeed! (more sarcasm)
Bringing American Socialism to the Mainstream
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) emerged in the early 1970s against a backdrop of global political shifts to the right. You may remember how the right chased and persecuted people suspected of communism in the 1950s, the era of the “Red Scare” and “McCarthyism”.
DSA, the organization, was founded in 1982 through the merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (est. 1973) and the New American Movement (socialist and feminist organization est. 1971). This merger was notable for uniting the American left, emphasizing a commitment to democratic, pluralist socialism.
DSA membership was 6,000 at the 1982 merger, but the conservative 1980s proved difficult. Despite challenges, DSA contributed to Jesse Jackson’s multiracial 1988 Rainbow Coalition bid and played a key role in anti-apartheid and Central America solidarity movements. In the 1990s, DSA championed the Medicare for All single-payer system and actively opposed what they called neoliberal policies like NAFTA and “the welfare reform” driven by the Democrats. DSA didn’t think the Democrats were making a real change that benefits the majority.
After the 2008 Great Recession, frustration with stagnant inequality fueled the Occupy movement, which DSA chapters joined. However, the organization truly exploded following the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign, which the Georgetown appearance was part of.
Sanders’ refusal to abandon his democratic socialist identity, coupled with young people seeking alternatives to oligarchy, led to the the DSA becoming an institution.
With 24,000 members in 2017, DSA became the largest socialist organization in the U.S. since 1956, dedicated to making socialism a mainstream part of American politics. After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s election to congress in 2028, and Zoran Mamdani’s success in New York in 2025, DSA had over 80,000 paying members in June 2025.
I don’t call this Socialism
Despite of the language used in America the past century, I have always thought of socialism through Marxist theory, being a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.
“Socialism is the First Stage of the worldwide transition to Communism”
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
(I’ve started to quote and link to Wikipedia, you may have noticed. In the past it seemed like the lazy person’s choice, now I consider it a show of support to hard working humans seeking and maintaining the truth.)
From wikipedia:
Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems.
This is what I saw in the Soviet Union, and this what the communists in Europe were/are working towards. Socialism aims to end private ownership on the path to communism, were people own all means of production.
This version of socialism has very little to do with the social democratic politics in the Nordic countries, nor with the manifest of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Wikipedia does recognize this, as it continues
Although the emergence of the Soviet Union as the world’s first nominally socialist state led to the widespread association of socialism with the Soviet economic model, it has since shifted in favour of democratic socialism. Academics sometimes recognised the mixed economies of several Western European and Nordic countries as “democratic socialist”, although the system of these countries, with only limited social ownership (generally in the form of state ownership), is more usually described as social democracy.
What is Social Democracy
Social Democracy is my lived experience growing up in Finland.
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, social democracy has taken the form of democratic socialism, a robust welfare state, policies promoting social justice, market regulation, and a more equitable distribution of income.
It means higher taxes that fund universal healthcare and education, infrastructure that covers the entire country, and a democratic governance model. Nordic countries, some of the most prosperous, most innovative, and happiest countries in the world, have their flaws1 but the underlying system works.
They don’t have the richest of the rich, the 1%, but they also don’t have the poorest of the poor. Everyone has access to food, housing, and medication. The system values its free libraries, free sports venues, free schools and universities. I tell in my book how my father was part of a generation of architects who designed housing complexes, suburbs, public and commercial spaces so that they would be equally inviting, equally beautiful and accessible to all people.
I mean, just look at this public library in Helsinki:
The Nordic model, it’s a really good idea.
Conclusion
Conclusion #1 is that I’m an old fart and my vocabulary and beliefs are obviously outdated. Socialism “can” refer to a movement that just wants to reduce poverty and provide universal healthcare. It doesn’t “only” refer to the central party seizing private shops, farms, and factories in the name of shared ownership.
Note taken, happy to learn new things.
Conclusion #2, Are democratic socialists the same as social democrats? I guess yes, kind of, maybe. If American’s have been using the term for Nordic style governance for a hundred years, who am I to argue. If it works, great.
But I will never call myself a socialist for supporting universal healthcare, free education, trains, libraries, public indoor swimming pools, and tax payer assisted food for hungry children.
It’s just a really good idea that works.
About Deep Policy
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Hi, I’m Petra Söderling. Welcome to Deep Policy, a space where I help you understand how governments, technology, and innovation policy shape the world around us.
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I could write a whole article about the flaws in the Nordic model - or maybe flawed execution of the model. There are many, and some of these flaws are the reasons why I took my tech startup to the U.S. But I don’t want to wallow in the flaws here today, let’s allow Mamdani and his supporters to have their celebration day.