IMPO such a world could never exist at all. Order in human society, usually imposed by the biggest and most effective thug around, emerges spontaneously when absent.
In Heinlein’s novel, the anarchic society he envisioned existed only because the Lunar Authority prevented such order imposed by natural leaders from emerging.
Nevertheless, when that society came into direct conflict with the LA and Earth, an ordered society popped up, for the fairly obvious reason that no society can successfully defend itself against another without leaders, rules, etc.
Another series of novels that portrays a much darker vision of the sudden absence of rule is the Dies the Fire series by SM Sterling. All high-energy processes, including electricity, internal combustion, firearms, etc. suddenly stop working, meaning that society is suddenly dominated by those who are quite literally “strong-arm men.”
95%+ of the world’s population dies in the immediate aftermath, and the survivors group together in self-defense under more or less feudal systems. IMO it’s pretty darn close to what might actually happen under such conditions, though I’d like to think Americans would develop a more egalitarian and mutual aid society than is shown.
One thing it does show very well is how the natural leaders emerge from the crowd under such stressful conditions and impose their own personalities on the variety of societies that develop.
I view such books as a form of social engineering as it were. Fun to mentally task yourself as to what you would do in such situations but not worthy of much mental effort.
In a nation such as America where firearms are as common as stop signs I don’t think thugs would last very long. Remember fifty years ago when we carried rifles in the rear windows of our pickup trucks? There was probably fifty such trucks in my high school parking lot.