How much power do formal institutions have in our society? Support with specific examples

I would think they have less power than what you would think they'll have in our society. Why do I say that? We'll I say it because if you look at our society today and see who's following rules or either doing things for the church, you wouldn't see many. Why do I say this also? If you look around our community/society all you would manly see is people breaking the rules, people showing violence, and etc.