Social mutual assistance refers to activities organized and participated by social groups and members voluntarily to help the weak and the poor with the encouragement and support of the government. Social mutual assistance includes two aspects: 1. Social mutual assistance that provides funds for recipients. Including social (domestic) donations, overseas donations, mutual funds and charity bazaars of romantic games. 2. Social mutual aid agencies provide services for recipients. Including neighborhood mutual aid, group mutual aid and charity, and so on.

Social mutual assistance has the characteristics of voluntary and non-profit, and its funds mainly come from social donations and voluntary contributions from members, and the government often gives support from taxation and other aspects. The main forms of social mutual assistance include: mass mutual assistance organized by mass organizations such as trade unions and women's federations; Charity assistance organized by non-governmental public welfare organizations; Various forms of mutual aid organizations spontaneously formed by urban and rural residents.

trait

Social mutual assistance includes the following characteristics:

1, mutual recognition and interdependence

Social mutual assistance is one of the most basic concepts and behaviors on which human society depends. From the primitive crowd, human beings have lived a group life, sharing weal and woe, which makes individuals have a sense of identity with the group; The common interests of human society further make it necessary for people to form this kind of social support network with benign interaction as the latitude and longitude, thus creating a sense of interdependence.

2, code of conduct and values

In order to safeguard the overall interests, every member of society can't do whatever he wants. They must learn to compromise, learn to make concessions, learn to restrain themselves, and restrain their desires. Traditionally, every member of society must believe in and abide by the code of conduct and values. Only in this way can human society be cohesive and become a whole.

3. Social mutual assistance between altruism and utilitarianism.

As a result, two levels of social mutual assistance have been formed: one is the pure altruistic mutual assistance from the simplest feelings of human beings, and the other is the interdependence from utilitarian rationality. From the development history of human society, the first level of social mutual assistance runs through, and as long as there is human society, there must be such mutual assistance; The second level of social mutual assistance, from the end of primitive society with surplus products in human society, has gradually become prominent.

When the class society appeared, with unequal classes, class contradictions and class struggles, from a rational point of view, interdependence became extremely important and even became an important duty of the state. This phenomenon may last until the class is eliminated. At present, the mutual assistance between these two levels has become a feature of social support network in modern society, and it is also the basic foothold for establishing social security system.

Step 4 return to nature

Now we have to go back to the original meaning of social mutual assistance to understand the above definition: we strongly advocate the first level of social mutual assistance, because this is an ancient tradition of our nation; But there is no objection to the second level of social mutual assistance, because as a social mutual assistance advocated by the government, it has its utilitarian or pragmatic side.