mutual aid; mutual assistance
A formal yojijukugo used in social, economic, and cooperative contexts to describe people or groups helping each other.
The spirit of mutual aid in the community is important.
This cooperative is based on the principle of mutual assistance.
相互扶助 is a more formal, often sociological or economic term for mutual aid, while 互助 is the everyday word used for community or organizational cooperation.
相互扶助 is the broad concept of helping one another, whereas 共済 is the concrete, organized system that puts that idea into practice.
相互扶助 is a formal, often institutional term for mutual aid (e.g. insurance or welfare systems), whereas 助け合い is the everyday word for people helping each other directly.
A yojijukugo composed of 相互 (mutual) and 扶助 (aid, assistance). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the compound is conventionally associated with cooperative and social welfare concepts.