In my opinion, Le Guin, Butler and more recently authors like Chambers all live in the same sphere of speculative fiction or "sci fi" if you like that is in complete opposition to Clark, Weir and others which have dominated the genre for a long time now. These stories are less about some interesting imaginary application of physics or the unknown in a vast mechanistic universe and more about how society and individuals relate and imagining the infinite ways these two forces can interact. Often the backdrop is secondary to the exploration of the characters and the society they live in. I think this type of story is really fundamental to our progress as a society and we should all talk more about these authors and the stories they told/tell. It makes me happy to see Le Guin talked about, critiqued and praised on HN today.
I think this is the talk where Le Guin talks about the continuity of this type of story telling and contrasts it with hard sci fi. Definitely worth a listen IMO.