Socialism is simply the ownership of the means of production. And this happens in degrees. Some are fascist, in which the state decides how much is owned by the government and it could be all of it or most of it.

Then there are countries where the governments owns only a few key resources that are necessary to make life more equitable for everybody - like public transport, medical care, education, etc. This is called democratic socialism - another word is mixed economies. In this form of socialism, people vote for which means of production they want the government to take care of.

For instance, 62% (or something like that) want the government to use taxes to fund medical care. This is socialistic, but because there is still private business ownership, and because the government only has very limited ownership, this is a mixed economy - part capitalist and part socialist. This is called democratic socialism.

When fascist socialism (like the USSR and China) also being to run the lives of individuals, and when their freedom is removed, this is called totalitarianism.