Social democracy
Topic: Preamble and the Philosophy of the Constitution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Constitution: Why and How?"
Meaning
Social democracy is Ambedkar's idea, from his speech of 25 November 1949, that political democracy cannot last unless it rests on a way of life built on liberty, equality and fraternity together. He warned that India was entering "a life of contradictions": equality in politics (one person, one vote, one value) but inequality in social and economic life. His third warning to the nation was to turn political democracy into social democracy.
Example
A Dalit citizen's vote counts the same as anyone else's. Yet if that citizen still faces caste discrimination in daily life, Ambedkar's "contradiction" between political and social democracy remains.
Don't confuse with
- Political democracy: this covers only elections and equal votes. Social democracy also needs equality and brotherhood in everyday life.
- Social democracy as a European party ideology: in Ambedkar's sense, it is not a party programme but a way of life.