Tess Barron
- Feb 11
- 11 min read

Social Commentary in Literature: The One Thing All Great Science Fiction Writers Know

The One Thing All Great Sci-fi Writers Know

This post is a bit of a rant on my part, getting out some thoughts I've had rolling around my head for a while.

Science fiction has been an integral part of our culture. A defining aspect of it, really. You may think I give sci-fi too much credit, but I'm sticking by my statement. Nothing marks the value systems of the current era quite like speculative fiction has and does.

It's where social commentary meets creative writing, offering insights into culture, society, and human nature.

Pick up an acclaimed science fiction book of any decade, and there, you will find all the time's principal cultural, societal, and technological issues wrapped up neatly for you in a glued binding.

Even more, some of these books seem to transcend the era they were written in.

Take Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, for instance. Its relevance underscores the importance of social commentary in literature, giving us a glimpse into societal issues.

Today, we'll dive into the heart of science fiction, exploring its power to reflect, critique, and redefine our world.

Social commentary definition in literature = A critique and reflection of societal issues through creative writing.

Simple. Got it? Good.

Contents:

Understanding Science Fiction as a Genre
How Science Fiction Reflects Society
What Makes a Good Sci-Fi Book?
Themes and Social Commentary in Science Fiction
Balancing Entertainment and Meaning in Science Fiction
Case Study: Ray Bradbury's Relevance in Contemporary Society
What is the Purpose of Fiction? The Bigger Picture
Meaning Is the Future: The Role of Social Commentary Literature
Final Words

Understanding Science Fiction as a Genre

Science fiction engages readers by exploring speculative futures and alternate realities.

It delves into societal norms and structures, challenging readers to envision different worlds and question the status quo.

Defining Science Fiction

The genre speculates on future possibilities.

From advanced technology to space exploration, it asks us to contemplate human civilization's potential trajectories and the impact of societal changes.

Evolution of Science Fiction Literature

Science fiction literature has evolved from its early roots in speculative fiction and pulp magazines to encompass various subgenres and styles.

Something that titles within this genre have held in common over the years, from the classic works to contemporary masterpieces, is that they continue to push the boundaries of imagination and ask that readers reconsider their perceptions of society and reality.

How Science Fiction Reflects Society

Science fiction is a compelling platform for social commentary, offering insights into societal norms and expectations through imagination.

Extrapolating current trends and technologies can provide deeper understandings of human nature and societal dynamics.

Science Fiction as a Mirror to Society

Science fiction functions as a reflective mirror, capturing the complexities of contemporary society and questioning the acceptance of prevailing norms and societal expectations.

Its portrayal of diverse characters and cultures prompts readers to reconsider their beliefs and perceptions, fostering critical reflection on the human condition and the intricacies of societal structures.

As a vehicle for social commentary, science fiction engages us with pressing issues and envisions alternative futures.

Social Commentary Literature - What Makes a Good Sci-fi

What Makes a Good Sci-Fi Book?

A good science fiction book blends imaginative storytelling with thought-provoking themes and compelling characters.

It transports readers to distant places and times while exploring universal truths about humanity. Originality and creativity are so important here—as is grounding your narrative in a historical context to provide depth and authenticity.

Strong character development allows readers to empathize with protagonists and understand their struggles, while thematic depth encourages introspection and reflection.

Moreover, a good sci-fi book challenges readers to consider the implications of scientific advancements and societal changes and offers valuable lessons and alternate perspectives.

Social commentators use science fiction as a medium to explore themes such as power dynamics, identity, environmentalism, and the human condition, sparking dialogue and encouraging critical thinking.

Themes and Social Commentary in Science Fiction

Science fiction offers a fertile ground for exploring a wide range of themes and social commentary.

From dystopian societies to utopian visions, it delves into issues such as power dynamics, identity, environmentalism, and the human condition.

By weaving historical context into their stories, they provide depth and authenticity, grounding the narrative in reality while envisioning possibilities for change.

Social commentators will use science fiction to explore themes that resonate across time and culture, sparking dialogue and encouraging critical thinking about our world.

Balancing Entertainment and Meaning in Science Fiction

Crafting compelling science fiction involves striking a delicate balance between entertainment and meaning.

While captivating storytelling and thrilling adventures draw readers in, infusing the narrative with deeper significance adds layers of complexity and resonance.

Importance of Entertainment Value

But we can't forget about entertainment value either. It is paramount in this type of science fiction especially. You do not want to overload your reader with ethical posturing and what I like to call "moral yardsticking."

Making your story accessible on an entertainment level is the gateway to engaging readers and holding their attention.

Riveting action sequences, immersive world-building, and dynamic characters create an exciting and enjoyable reading experience, ensuring readers remain invested in the story from beginning to end.

Crafting Meaningful Stories

But on the flip side, we don't want our story to be all play and no greater meaning.

Some of you might want to just write science fiction that shows readers something cool and exciting, and that's it.

If that is you, there is nothing wrong with that, though I'm not sure why you are reading an article on social commentary.

But anyway...

I believe fiction has a purpose beyond its surface-level entertainment value, even if that is just personal meaning to you. But I will talk more about this below.

By exploring universal truths about the human condition and addressing pressing societal issues, authors invite readers to reflect on the world around them and consider alternative perspectives.

Or, maybe you just want to open a window to your soul, which can sometimes hold more universal meaning than anything else.

Thought-provoking themes and compelling character arcs resonate with readers emotionally and intellectually, leaving a lasting impact and inspiring meaningful conversations long after the book is finished.

Case Study: Ray Bradbury's Relevance in Contemporary Society

I recently reread Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and was surprised to see just how relevant it is to our society in the last few years—describing cancel culture to a T and the thinking behind what would bring people to ban a book, a TV show, or even a person.

Though, I think the reason sci-fi has been (or could be) so profoundly "on-the-nose" is not because SF writers have some innate and uncanny ability to see into the future. But because they can see something right now as it is.

Objectively as it is, and what it could become if left untethered.

The Logical Conclusion

Neil Gaiman, in the introduction of Fahrenheit 451, states:

"What speculative fiction is really good at is not the future but the present—taking an aspect of it that troubles or is dangerous, and extending and extrapolating that aspect into something that allows the people of that time to see what they are doing from a different angle and from a different place. It's cautionary."

Ray Bradbury didn't receive a revelation given to him by the gods in a dream one night. But he saw something about society (in the 1950s, remember) with the rise of television and entering the era of media for pure entertainment value.

He saw an intellectually suppressed society that put a good time over a meaningful experience and took what he saw to its logical conclusion. He just so happened to nail it.

His book rings so true in our time because we failed to listen to the warning that he was giving us. It was the logical conclusion, after all…

I've been thinking a lot lately about the purpose of fiction. Perhaps I'm going through some kind of pre-mid-life crisis, or maybe it's just a consequence of leaving my ear on the wall for too long, paying too much attention to current events and the state of our societies.

But I'm comfortable enough with my opinions on the matter to say this next thing out loud.

We are in the midst of a global transition period. This is not just a transition of power shifting from one group to another, which the modern world has seen numerous times before. But this transition is something more profound.

It's the kind that marks a shift in the paradigms that hold our societies together, and this kind of shift comes at a much steeper cost and shakes the foundations of civilization quite a bit more.

This is the same kind of shift seen at the end of the Classical period, at the beginning of the Enlightenment, and so on. I'm not saying this is some sort of doom and gloomy way. In fact, I find this all rather exciting.

But it does bring to my mind the problem I mentioned above.

Social Commentary - What is the Purpose of Fiction_

What is the Purpose of Fiction? The Bigger Picture

Better, what could the purpose of fiction be?

I don't think too many writers would argue with me that fiction has been bound by certain financial obligations for some time. The big five publishing companies, for the last few decades at least, have been focused primarily on the bottom line and making shareholders happy.

As far back as the 1970s (probably earlier), genre fiction has been referred to as "transient" fiction.

And it is not hard to see why.

Books are chosen for value based on the sales models of previous successful novels and are pumped out as quickly as possible. Then, a large percentage of these novels are thrown into the bowels of the remaindered bin just as swiftly and never heard of again.

Of course, we can't expect every novel produced to make it to the best-seller list. But you can't fault me for thinking there has to be something more.

The printed word is a pretty marvelous invention. The press marked another transition period that forever shifted the cultural paradigm of the West.

Humans could suddenly share and store knowledge at never-before-imagined rates, and it's not hard to see the parallels between that time and our own "internet age."

So where does this leave books?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that digital books were prophesied to knock printed books off their perch and drive them into obsolescence, but they didn't, did they?

In fact, ebooks have had a hard time cracking that market, sitting still at only about 25% of book sales.

And perhaps the most significant difference between the Gutenberg press and the digital book or Internet is that the Gutenberg was a vehicle for rebellion.

Those who felt their voices weren't being heard and wanted to revolt against those in power chose the press as their means to change that.

However, that is sort of what the printed book still is, in a way. Seen mainly in the "Indie" houses popping up all over the place. Small and Micro-publishers demand space for fiction deemed "unmarketable" or "untouchable" in some form by the mainstream.

Image made with Leonardo.ai

Those in power (the big publishing houses) would love for the industry to head toward an all-digital format.

Why?

Because their profit margins are so much larger with those formats.

Yet printed books still dominate. Even in the Indie circles where you would think digital would make it more accessible.

I think many readers like to have something they can hold. Something that is there. Something that feels intimate.

What is a novel if not an author reaching out to someone and a reader reaching back? Reading and writing might be two things that happen in solitude, but they are very interpersonal exchanges.

I also think that the steady popularity of the hard copy is another sign that readers want more from their books.

Digital books make sense in a transient fiction world. And not surprisingly, the kinds of readers looking for those quickly forgotten books are the same ones who prefer digital over paperback or hardcover.

There are always exceptions, I am sure, but this is true in my experience.

Social Commentary - Meaning is the Future

Meaning Is the Future: The Role of Social Commentary Literature

All this to say, I believe it will soon not be in an author's best interest to write purely for entertainment. I don't think writing another genre piece or something the world has seen many times before will be in the author's best interest.

There are two schools of thought on this.

The first one is that when times get tough, people want a distraction. They want entertainment for entertainment's sake to keep them from thinking of their dismal lives and their even more dismal futures.

The second school of thought is that people in times of crisis want to think and that they, in fact, need to think. Think about life and find meaning in it.

Both are probably true. Some want to face their reality and improve it, and some want to drink it away—be distracted from it by any means possible.

It's not a coincidence that some of our best classical sci-fi has come about in times of economic and social insecurity, be it war, famine, plague, or mass meaninglessness. And I think that the time is now for authors to seriously start thinking about which of those they would like to provide because, for a long time, we have been focused on entertainment first and writing something meaningful (even personally) only as an afterthought.

Maybe you want to entertain the masses, and that's fine, but you should also not be surprised when your books are forgotten as quickly as they are written and released.

Maybe you'll make a lot of cash.

Cool.

But it'll be a rare few who do.

If you write something with meaning, it'll be around forever. It will still mean something to you even if it's not read. It'll still be something you can hold up high as an outstanding achievement of your personal growth.

The former goal can, and maybe is destined, to turn into…well…what it has.

Going back to the focus here, science fiction, many newer SF titles show us a world that is only there for its own sake. Showing us a neat and exciting future on the surface but quickly falls apart on further inspection. One of the best examples of this isn't a book but a film (a medium that has proved equally vulnerable).

Prometheus.

It is the worst piece of crap I have ever watched. Precisely because it had absolutely nothing to say. It was a series of some interesting things happening and some really absurd things happening.

Entertainment value only (maybe for some). For me, it had none, but that could be because I fix plot holes for a living, and Prometheus was riddled with them.

Sidenote: Many people really loved this movie and have tried to change my mind about it. I won't. It sucks. Don't try.

And if it was a commentary on something or a warning, I do not know what.

Perhaps this post is making me sound really pretentious or elitist, and you know, I'll take that. But if we are going to keep books alive in an upcoming age, they will need a purpose, and I would be unfortunate if that purpose was mere entertainment.

Because honestly, that is a competition books can't win, and they will quickly become obsolete in an ocean of television, YouTube, and social media.

And then, like in Fahrenheit 451, they will genuinely be dead for real.

Books need meaning. They need to say something about society and the now.

Our era's great sci-fi writers have known this and put it into practice.

Have you?

Final Words

Science fiction stands as a powerful vehicle for exploring the depths of human imagination and the complexities of society.

If you do your job right, your story will be able to captivate audiences and provoke thought for years or even decades to come.

Through social commentary and imaginative storytelling, sci-fi challenges us to envision new possibilities and confront the pressing issues. Just be sure to do it in an honest and authentic way by looking to the truth and taking it to the logical conclusion.

So, as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of science fiction literature and the changing world, let us embrace the boundless potential of this genre and keep writing.

How do you build an unforgettable sci-fi universe?

To develop a great science fiction universe, you will need to craft rich lore and utilize seriously intricate world-building. You'll need to create diverse characters, plausible future technology, and more.

universe-building should be original and relatable, while leaving room for some mystery and your readers' imaginations.

Click "Next" to discover the best-practices for science fiction universe-building.

Next: Sci-Fi Universe-Building