What Is a Democratic Socialist?

Politics|Zohran Mamdani Says He’s a Democratic Socialist. What Does That Mean?

Zohran Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman, stunned the Democratic establishment on Tuesday evening with a performance in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York so commanding that his chief rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, quickly conceded to him.

Mr. Mamdani’s primary victory is not yet official, and he still faces a competitive general election this fall. But if he is successful, he would become one of the most prominent democratic socialists in the country. Here’s what that label means.

What is democratic socialism?

The term has no singular definition, and its supporters and critics assign it various descriptions. But the simplest way to understand democratic socialism, from an academic standpoint, is as an ideology rooted in its opposition to capitalism and wanting to shift power to workers from corporations.

In the United States, the policies that self-described democratic socialists advocate for generally do not involve the complete abolition of capitalism, but rather working within the system to enact left-wing priorities, such as raising the minimum wage. That makes them closer to social democrats — a common ideology in Europe that emphasizes strong social safety nets and government involvement in areas like health care — than traditional democratic socialists, who tend to see less room for compromise around capitalism. Either way, it places them further to the left than the average Democrat.

“These labels are fuzzy,” said Sheri Berman, a political science professor at Columbia University’s Barnard College. Democratic socialism, she said, is “not a tradition with a huge following or a huge impact thus far; the term means different things to different people.”

Is Bernie Sanders a democratic socialist?

Yes, or at least that’s how he describes himself. Democratic socialism was not particularly well-known or popular in the United States until Mr. Sanders, a Vermont senator, ran for president in 2016. But in practice, he sounds a lot like the social democrats in Europe.