What would have to change in Sweden and Denmark in order for them to be considered socialist?

[Overturn Citizens United]

Right now they are social democracies, so what is the difference?

[Fearlesspickle669]

For the government to hire their own leaders instead of the people

[Luckyrose866]

They would have to give up mixed market capitalism and adopt a socialist economy.

The state would take over ownership of capital e.g. Volvo, IKEA, Novo Nordisk, LEGO, Lundbeck, Carlsberg

[Anjaree]

The state will calculate the prices, and dictate the demand and supply of all goods to answer all three basic questions, what to produce? How to produce? and For whom?. There will be no private property rights,but Commune.

[Spotty J]

Whether they qualify as "Socialist" is more of a judgment call than a universally-agreed standard.

To be a true socialist nation, in my opinion, the state would have to seize ownership of all significant businesses. Then with all such businesses now belonging to the government, the capital markets would be shut down -- as there would no longer be capital-intensive private businesses needing to issue stock and bonds. So the country would have no stock market.

As a side effect of socialized businesses, there would no longer be competition in the economy, at least among bigger businesses, because they're just government agencies now. Therefore the markets are no longer free, and pricing signals no longer very meaningful. So in other words money may be used and things have prices, but it's just whatever the government decides to charge you for something.

Perhaps there could be small private business allowed, like shops and restaurants and pubs. BUT, the government would definitely have to suppress entrepreneurialism in most industries, because the government could not allow private business to pop up in competition to the state-owned businesses; they'd be outlawed. So all business endeavors would be subject to heavy interference of bureaucracy and licensing -- you wouldn't be able to so much as lease a retail space and open up a comic book shop without working through a byzantine thicket of red tape to get permissions and clearance.

Note that I'm not saying it has to be full-blown pure totalitarian communist with no private property whatsoever in order to be "socialist". But I do say that countries such as Sweden today are free-market capitalist nations just with high taxes and social welfare ... they're not "socialist" nations, as people often call them.