SOC309 Contemporary Social Theory Tutor-Marked Assignment 02, 2026 | SUSS, Singapore

SOC309 Tutor-Marked Assignment 02

This tutor‐marked assignment (TMA) is worth 25% of the final mark for SOC309: Contemporary Social Theory.

Please submit the assignment by Monday, 2 March 2026, 11:55pm. Resubmissions are allowed before this cut-off time.

You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Code, Title of the TMA, SUSS PI No., Your Name, and Submission Date.

Submit your essay together with your cover page (SOC self-declaration form), in a single file (saved as MS word file), to the submission link titled “TMA02”.

Question 1 (100 marks)

Digital technologies have been touted as having significant social uses and advantages in the management of everyday life, although there remains ambivalence towards their use and their implications for society (See articles below in Student Notes).

Examine the sociological arguments pertaining to the use of digital technologies solutions in the management of daily life, drawing reference from relevant theorists covered in Study Units 2 to 4 (and the corresponding topic chapters – relevant sections and excerpts) in the textbook (Appelrouth & Edles)): 

• Choose an application of digital technology you have experience of or that has affected you in everyday life. This can include digital consumer technologies (e.g., digital health mobile apps), ed-tech solutions, digital advertising, internet of things, etc., and examples of contexts include digital-only payments in line with goals towards a cashless society, etc. Focus on at most one or two examples for your analysis and illustrations.
• Based on your observations or experiences, consider the (sociological) effects this piece of technology has had on you. Identify at least one sociological issue arising from its use, and discuss in relation to theories covered in the abovementioned units/chapters. What changes in social relations occur and what are some implications for society? From a social policy and public interest perspective, what are the gains as well as the costs to the population or society?

You may be selective about which theorists from these units/chapters and their concepts you employ: these include Marcuse on technological rationality, Foucault on power and knowledge, Baudrillard on hyperreality, Beck on risk, etc. Consider carefully which theories/concepts apply to your identified case; you may bring in more, but note the impact on the quality and depth of your discussion and strike a balance.   

Student notes

This assignment allows you to apply and assess the contributions of theorists from the mentioned parts of the course, to analyse contemporary society. You may conduct further research using academic resources from the SUSS e-library databases, if necessary.

Your primary focus must be theorists taught in the abovementioned units/chapters. But you are free to bring in others, whose ideas you may be able to correlate to the issues raised, to enrich and support your argument.

You are encouraged to read the following articles and use them as starting points or for ideas for this assignment question:

Goggin, G., & Zhuang, K. V. (2023). Apps, mobilities, and migration in the Covid-19 pandemic: Covid technology and the control of migrant workers in Singapore.

International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(6), 636–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779231160802. (accessible at: < https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/13678779231160802)

Cheung, R. (2024, April 30). In increasingly cashless Singapore, primary school kids can’t count cash. Rice (Online). https://www.ricemedia.co/cashless-cash-singapore-primaryschool-kids-cant-count/

Write your answer in 1,500 words. Please remember to provide the word count, and list of references. Be sure to use appropriate and academic sources, including your course materials.

Fill in the self-declaration form (a copy is available under your course site on Canvas > L group > Modules) and include the completed form as a cover page for your submission (A penalty of 5 marks deduction will be imposed if this self-declaration form is incomplete, inaccurate, or missing. No appeals concerning the self-declaration form will be entertained).            

Appendix A: TMA/GBA Submission Reminders

TMA Cover Page 

• Download and complete the TMA Cover Page from Canvas L01 > Modules > Assessments.
• Acknowledge that you have read the self-declaration on academic integrity and submit it with your TMA. There will be a penalty of 5 marks deduction if the TMA cover page is incomplete, inaccurate or missing from the final submission of your TMA via Turnitin. No appeals concerning the Cover Page will be entertained.

TMA/GBA submission 

o Adhere strictly to the naming convention specified for TMA/GBA files. Noncompliance to these standards may result in your TMA/GBA not being marked and/or an administrative fee being imposed.

o It is your responsibility to ensure that you have uploaded your file(s) completely and accurately to the correct submission link. All inaccurate submissions will be treated as a null submission.

o Backup your TMA/GBA at all times.

o Review your submission immediately and ensure that the entire document has been uploaded completely and successfully.

o Submit early and check the originality report to decide if you need to revise and resubmit your assignment.

• Turnitin reports are generated immediately the first time but subsequent reports may take up to a day to generate.
• Retain the Turnitin digital receipt as evidence of a successful submission. Appeals submitted without the Turnitin digital receipt will not be entertained.
• Resubmissions (overwriting earlier submissions) are allowed only before the deadline. No further resubmissions can be made during the grace period or thereafter.
• The 12-hour grace period after the deadline is NOT an extended deadline. It is solely for resolving technical problems encountered with submissions before the deadline.

Late submissions and submission problems

• Late penalties are automatically applied by Canvas after the 12-hour grace period.
• Your instructors will NOT be able to grant any extensions as they cannot override Canvas system settings.
• Details about marks deduction are outlined in your Student Handbook under Academic Rules and Regulations.
• In case of problems, email Canvas Support at LSsupport@suss.edu.sg Attach your TMA/GBA file and relevant screenshots showing the technical error and follow up with Canvas Support before the grace period is over.
• If there was no submission before the deadline, one late submission is allowed up till 1 week after the deadline, after which no more late submissions will be allowed.

TMA/GBA Formatting Requirements

[For essay submissions on Word only]

Upload your TMA/GBA as a Word document file (.doc, .docx) only. No other formats are allowed. Feedback on your marked assignments will be provided only if the assignment is submitted as a Word document file.

Word / Slides / Page / Duration Limit

Writing and presenting succinctly is an important skill in academic writing. Keep strictly to any word limits (or limits to the number of slides, pages, or durations of videos). Tables, figures, and in-text citations are included in the word count whilst the reference list and appendices are not.

Plagiarism and Collusion

The University takes a very serious view of plagiarism, including misuse of Generative AI (GenAI), and collusion, i.e. submitting an assignment which is very similar to another student’s. The definitions and penalties are outlined in your Student Handbook.

All assignments are to be completed on your own. You may discuss the TMA/GBA with your course mates, but the assignment must be written up independently. Similarly, for assignments where GenAI use is permitted, you may consult GenAI but write the final submitted assignment yourself. You are also responsible for properly disclosing any use of GenAI in your assignments through citations and tables as detailed HERE. See below for further guidelines on GenAI use.

Permissible Use of GenAI

• Brainstorming for ideas and basic outlines with proper disclosure
• Summarising research materials for reference only
• Correcting minor spelling and grammatical errors

Unacceptable Use of GenAI (AI Cheating)

• Wholesale or substantial lifting of AI-generated content, including text, images and videos
• Generation of references without conducting research or verification
• Extensive rewriting and/or restructuring, including changing from one writing style to another and reorganising content

WARNING

Submitting assignments that substantially regurgitate or reproduce information from any sources, including GenAI tools, constitutes plagiarism. Once a plagiarism offence is established, the student’s work will be heavily marked down. A Fail grade will be awarded for cases found to contain fabricated content, including bogus references, false information, or non-existent arguments attributed to cited reference sources.

Proof of originality of your submitted assignment

You are strongly encouraged to (1) keep a record of your assignment version history and (2) retain PDF copies of all the cited sources in your assignment in a zipped folder. This evidence will be required in the circumstance that your assignment is flagged for plagiarism, in particular misuse of GenAI.

(1) How to keep a record of your assignment version history:

• Prepare your assignment using Google Docs or Microsoft Word Online which automatically retains version history. When required to, you can share the link to your document with the following access rights:
  o Google Docs: “Anyone with the link” and “Editor”
  o Microsoft Word Online: “People with the link can edit”

Note: The assignment document must reside online (Google Drive or OneDrive). Saving a copy or downloading a copy of the online file will lose the version history.

(2) How to retain PDF copies of cited sources (in a zipped folder):

• Where possible, download the article in PDF format and rename the file as:
  o Single author: Surname and year of publication (e.g., Johnson 2022.pdf)
  o Multiple authors: Surname of first author + et al. and year of publication (e.g., Tan et al. 2024.pdf)
• If PDF files are not available, take screenshots of the webpage containing the article details, the Abstract, relevant pages you referred to, paste them to a Word doc file and save it as a PDF file using the same author/year file-naming conventions suggested above.
• For book references, take screenshots of the relevant pages you referred to, paste them to a Word doc file and save it as a PDF file using the same author/year file-naming conventions suggested above.

—  End of TMA—