I think there are more than you think, in other words.

…traditional, socially conscious science fiction ought to teach the reader something; it ought to make them walk away with some new insight not only into the mind of the writer but also into the way in which the world around them operates.

I don’t disagree, but you seem to be talking about a very traditional kind of sf, the post-Campbell Galaxy or F&SF kind of story like The Space Merchants, or 334 by the late (alas) Thomas M. Disch. You could almost sell those as mainstream novels today. Maybe we should, though they usually don’t get credit for being sf.

The wikipedia entry gives some (pretty reasonable-sounding) goals and principles for the Mundane movement. These of course describe much SF that was written before the rubric of Mundane SF was conceived. But when I think of a book like Red Mars — which complies with all the Mundane principles as described on Wikipedia — “mundane” is the last word that comes to my mind.

“Mundane” is a near-synonym for “boring.” I don’t want that. Even if I’m reading realistic that’s near here in space and time, I want it to feel special. Duh!