You can begin on Wikipedia, tbh. Concepts like socialism, communism, capitalism, etc. are pretty well defined there and neutrally so. I am a leftist, so most of my other sources are within that ideology and would be considered biased.

Socialism isn’t about providing welfare, but about democratizing the economy so that workers can make economic decisions in a fair way. Currently economic decisions are made by a small ownership class (capitalists) and driven by the profit motive. Profit doesn’t always mean what’s best, just what makes the owners more money. Socialism allows workers to make decisions without this profit motive being the primary consideration, and while reaping the benefits of their own output.

A government that taxes corporations and the wealthy to fund social programs is better than one that doesn’t, but that doesn’t do much to empower workers or allow economic decision making by the working class. That’s the key difference.