This thesis proposes a reflection on the implementation of the Brazilian National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS) and therefore of the Unified Social Services (SUAS) in the city of Duque de Caxias (Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil), considering the history and expressions of the local political culture. For this purpose it assumed that after the promulgation of the Constitution of 1988 the Brazilian social policies were gradually being treated in a democratic perspective in order to guarantee social rights. Although administratively decentralized these policies are still subject to a kind of federal centralization as the federal government determines national guidelines to be followed by the municipalities. On the other hand the study considers that the autonomy given to municipalities by the 1988 Constitution allows them to proceed an adaptation of national guidelines in order to ensure that they are implemented in accordance with local realities. The fulfillment of these national guidelines is often influenced by the local history and its way of performing politics. In the case of Duque de Caxias, it is possible to identify some traces of a conservative political culture based on the logic of power and subservience. The municipality of Duque de Caxias was selected as field of study because of its contradictory features: high tax collection and industrialization rates in opposite to low standards of living and high social disparity. The study addressed these contradictions and tries to explain them through the analysis of the national and local history identifying some practices as permeated by authoritarianism, paternalism, clientelism and influenced by the culture. It also points out that these practices perpetuate themselves under a democratic disguise.