Steampunk without commentary on the exploitative machinations of imperialism is not steampunk.
Cyberpunk without commentary on capitalism's efforts to buy the world out from under us is not cyberpunk.
Solarpunk without commentary on how to grow a brighter future for everyone instead of submitting to gloom is not solarpunk.
These three make a trifecta of how capitalism took over, what can happen if it continues, and how to prevent it from doing so. What was, is, and still could be.
You could maybe add in stonepunk as a way to give commentary on what the world could have been like without the power structures which eventually led to imperialism and consequently capitalism. That's the most interesting way to do stonepunk, in my opinion.
Still not sure what dieselpunk and those others are trying to comment on though TBQH
corvids
@InvaderXan dieselpunk's commentary is generally gonna be toward the rise of fascism and the influences that led to ww2, iwrc
and then we have atompunk like, imperialism bad 2: electric boogaloo. it's focussed on the post-ww2 / cold war era, with commentary mostly on u.s. imperialism as opposed to steampunk talking about—well, from what we've seen it's really just the british—but they have a lot of key themes in common
