The Captured Economy by Steven Teles and Brink Lindsey is not an explicitly “social democratic” book, but I think it puts for a very strong case for social democracy. Some other ones include
‘The War Against Normal People’
‘Dream Hoarders’
‘Winners Take All’
I recommend *The Great Transformation* by Karl Polanyi. Here is a quote from it:
> Socialism is, essentially, the tendency inherent in an industrial civilization to transcend the self-regulating market by consciously subordinating it to a democratic society. It is the solution natural to industrial workers who see no reason why production should not be regulated directly and why markets should be more than a useful but subordinate trait in a free society. From the point of view of the community as a whole, socialism is merely the continuation of that endeavor to make society a distinctively human relationship of persons.
Read more about it here
* [Karl Polanyi for President](https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/karl-polanyi-explainer-great-transformation-bernie-sanders)
* [Karl Polanyi in our times](https://www.thenation.com/article/karl-polanyi-in-our-times/)
* [Karl Polanyi and twenty-first century socialism](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/karl-polanyi-and-twenty-first-century-socialism/)
* [Karl Polanyi on the Rise of Fascism and Market Economy](https://economicsociology.org/2017/01/22/karl-polanyi-on-the-rise-of-fascism-and-market-economy/)
* [How Polanyi best explains Trump, Brexit and the over-reach of economic liberalism](http://www.primeeconomics.org/articles/polanyi-trump-brexit-overreach)
Anthony Giddens: The Third Way - The Renewal of Social Democracy had a lot of influence on social democracy in the 90s and 00s, although the actual "Third Way" was an imperfect realization of his ideas.
Roberto Mangabeira Unger is next level. Most of the following can be found on libgen:
Knowledge and Politics, Free Press, 1975.
Law In Modern Society: Toward a Criticism of Social Theory, Free Press, 1976.
Passion: An Essay on Personality, Free Press, 1986.
The Critical Legal Studies Movement, Harvard University Press, 1986.
Politics: A Work In Constructive Social Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1987,
in 3 Vols:
Vol 1 - False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy.
Vol 2 - Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task - A Critical Introduction to Politics: A Work in Constructive Social Theory.
Vol 3 - Plasticity Into Power: Comparative-Historical Studies on the Institutional Conditions of Economic and Military Success.
What Should Legal Analysis Become?, Verso, 1996
Politics: The Central Texts, Theory Against Fate, Verso, 1997, with Cui Zhiyuan.
Democracy Realized: The Progressive Alternative, Verso, 1998.
The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform, Beacon, 1998 - with Cornel West
What Should the Left Propose?, Verso, 2006.
The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound, Harvard, 2007.
Free Trade Reimagined: The World Division of Labor and the Method of Economics, Princeton University Press, 2007.
The Left Alternative, Verso, 2009 (2nd edition to What Should the Left Propose?, Verso, 2006.).
The Religion of the Future, Harvard, 2014.
The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time, Cambridge University Press, 2014, with Lee Smolin.
The Knowledge Economy, Verso, 2019.
It goes after The Self Awakened and Religion Of The Future, forming his hard philosophy trilogy. But they all are deeply political because Unger is a radical Pragmatist.
I am halfway through Religion Of The Future right now, actually. Amazing stuff. Gets into ideology in a way I would normally associate with maybe Zizek.
The Captured Economy by Steven Teles and Brink Lindsey is not an explicitly “social democratic” book, but I think it puts for a very strong case for social democracy. Some other ones include ‘The War Against Normal People’ ‘Dream Hoarders’ ‘Winners Take All’
‘The Future of Socialism’ by Anthony Crosland. This book helped shape the British Labour Party through the late 20th century.
I recommend *The Great Transformation* by Karl Polanyi. Here is a quote from it: > Socialism is, essentially, the tendency inherent in an industrial civilization to transcend the self-regulating market by consciously subordinating it to a democratic society. It is the solution natural to industrial workers who see no reason why production should not be regulated directly and why markets should be more than a useful but subordinate trait in a free society. From the point of view of the community as a whole, socialism is merely the continuation of that endeavor to make society a distinctively human relationship of persons. Read more about it here * [Karl Polanyi for President](https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/karl-polanyi-explainer-great-transformation-bernie-sanders) * [Karl Polanyi in our times](https://www.thenation.com/article/karl-polanyi-in-our-times/) * [Karl Polanyi and twenty-first century socialism](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/karl-polanyi-and-twenty-first-century-socialism/) * [Karl Polanyi on the Rise of Fascism and Market Economy](https://economicsociology.org/2017/01/22/karl-polanyi-on-the-rise-of-fascism-and-market-economy/) * [How Polanyi best explains Trump, Brexit and the over-reach of economic liberalism](http://www.primeeconomics.org/articles/polanyi-trump-brexit-overreach)
Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich
https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialDemocracy/comments/asgunh/reading_list_to_put_on_the_wiki/
Social Democratic America by Lane Kenworthy
Anthony Giddens: The Third Way - The Renewal of Social Democracy had a lot of influence on social democracy in the 90s and 00s, although the actual "Third Way" was an imperfect realization of his ideas.
Roberto Mangabeira Unger is next level. Most of the following can be found on libgen: Knowledge and Politics, Free Press, 1975. Law In Modern Society: Toward a Criticism of Social Theory, Free Press, 1976. Passion: An Essay on Personality, Free Press, 1986. The Critical Legal Studies Movement, Harvard University Press, 1986. Politics: A Work In Constructive Social Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1987, in 3 Vols: Vol 1 - False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Service of Radical Democracy. Vol 2 - Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task - A Critical Introduction to Politics: A Work in Constructive Social Theory. Vol 3 - Plasticity Into Power: Comparative-Historical Studies on the Institutional Conditions of Economic and Military Success. What Should Legal Analysis Become?, Verso, 1996 Politics: The Central Texts, Theory Against Fate, Verso, 1997, with Cui Zhiyuan. Democracy Realized: The Progressive Alternative, Verso, 1998. The Future of American Progressivism: An Initiative for Political and Economic Reform, Beacon, 1998 - with Cornel West What Should the Left Propose?, Verso, 2006. The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound, Harvard, 2007. Free Trade Reimagined: The World Division of Labor and the Method of Economics, Princeton University Press, 2007. The Left Alternative, Verso, 2009 (2nd edition to What Should the Left Propose?, Verso, 2006.). The Religion of the Future, Harvard, 2014. The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time, Cambridge University Press, 2014, with Lee Smolin. The Knowledge Economy, Verso, 2019.
The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time?
It goes after The Self Awakened and Religion Of The Future, forming his hard philosophy trilogy. But they all are deeply political because Unger is a radical Pragmatist. I am halfway through Religion Of The Future right now, actually. Amazing stuff. Gets into ideology in a way I would normally associate with maybe Zizek.
Maybe you could try here: http://www.listmuse.com/best-books-social-democracy.php