Jafnaðarstefnu, or 'equality policy'

A social democrat is a person who supports social democracy or jafnaðarstefnu as the policy is called in Icelandic.

Jafnaðarstefnu was originally based on Karl Marx's theories, but later focused on improved wages as well as social and economic reforms "within the framework of capitalist society in the spirit of reform and revisionism" as stated in the Icelandic Encyclopaedia of 1990. During the interwar years, there were many European Marxists, but after the Second World War the parties greatly distanced themselves from his ideas. Today, the Social Democrats' policy is no longer to establish a socialist society, but a welfare state.

The first Social Democrats were founded in 1869 in Germany. Social democracy is particularly popular in Western Europe.

Citation: HS. (2002, 21. maí). Hvað er sósíaldemókrati? Vísindavefurinn. Sótt af http://visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=2401