fiction that combines magical or supernatural premises with acknowledgement of social and technological realities;
fiction that combines such premises with rigorous deductions from said premises.
The meanings overlap because the deductions derive from interaction between the premises and the realities. Thus, in Heinlein's Magic Inc, magic works and replaces technology. Therefore, haulage firms use flying carpets. However, flying carpets stop working if they pass above consecrated ground. Therefore, a haulage firm's insurers must pay compensation for a damaged church. Heinlein built an entire society on that premise and Anderson followed his lead in considerably more detail.
In James Blish's fantasies:
What if prophecies of the defeat of Satan are untrustworthy war propaganda?
And what would follow from a demonic victory at Armageddon?
Blish asks and answers both these questions with the rigor of Heinlein or Anderson.
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