**Socialism** is probably the vaguest political word in the English
language, but it generally refers to one of three things:

1.  [An expansion of the welfare state and the state protecting workers
    and the environment](Social_Democracy "wikilink")
2.  [The state nationalising most industry to direct the economy for
    common benefit](Authoritarian_Socialism "wikilink")
3.  [Workers' controlling the economy in a directly democratic
    way](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink")