Sanders doesn’t worry too much about the historically nebulous word socialism.
"All that socialism means to me, to be very frank with you, is democracy with a small ‘d.’ I believe in democracy, and by democracy I mean that, to as great an extent as possible, human beings have the right to control their own lives. And that means that you cannot separate the political structure from the economic structure.”
He has most recently described himself as a democratic socialist and that democratic socialism is the direction he wants to lead the country.
"It is my very strong belief that the United States must reject that path of hatred and divisiveness — and instead find the moral conviction to choose a different path, a higher path, a path of compassion, justice and love. It is the path that I call democratic socialism.”
From a speech Sanders gave last summer outlining his vision for the country. The following link includes a full transcript of the speech. Very impressive and a great read:
https://www.vox.com/2019/6/12/18663217/bernie-sanders-democratic-socialism-speech-transcript