Social Democracy is a form of democracy that is based on a strong commitments to equality. Social democrats, therefore, support the ides of the welfare state based on redistribution. They believe in the liberal institutions of representative democracy, but wish to combine these with the ideal of social justice.
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To the extent that liberalism frequently takes the form of right-wing libertarianism- a belief in the unfettered freedom of the individual and the free market-social democracy is more egalitarian that liberalism.
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However, it is radical than Marxian socialism and may be said to stand at the intersection of these two ideologies. Indeed, it has been said that social-democracy is more than democracy and less than socialism!
Social democrats argue that all individual should get an equitable share of society’s resources in order to realize their own plans of life. If poverty or disability or belonging to a minority are obstacles in this respect, then it is the duty of the state to remove such obstacles. Social democracy is thus particularly concerned with providing the conditions for the well-being of workers, women, the disabled, the elderly, members of cultural minorities, and so forth. It is basically interested in creating the conditions for equality, so that all citizens can enjoy their democratic rights to the same extent.
It sees democracy as not only a form of government, but also a principle that should inform collective life in society as a whole.