SW doesn’t present a situation in which technology truly impacts anyone’s lives. Death Star withstanding of course. But in most other situations it simply exists. This isn’t some kind of High-Tech/Low-Life cyberpunk universe where everyone who isn’t in touch with their spiritual side suffers in a dystopia. It’s just dressing to disguise the space wizards core of the story.
Just as the technology is just a player in the Foundation series which is really a futuristic retelling of the fall of the Roman Empire - with a twist that someone is trying to save all the knowledge. Just as technology (which is deliberately downplayed) in the Dune stories which are a political drama with the protagonist turning into a messiah and religious leader. Both are Space Opera as is Star Wars. The technology is the backdrop and the story of each could be moved, but the character of the stories relies on that technology. Solo is a smuggler and the Falcon his a key part of his character. Luke’s piloting abilities. The light saber - a high tech version of an ancient weapon. You find the same sort of things in the Foundation. Where math of a mysterious nature that is never explained can tell the future to some extent. Where the resource poor planet Terminus becomes the new center of the galaxy through their miniaturization and advanced knowledge rather than from force of arms. And we are never really given any clue as to how the spice of Arakis, derived from desiccated worms, allows for folding of space or seeing, or the voice. Technology is the color and backdrop. It is the canvas that gives these different created universes their character. The stories Asimov, Herbert, and Lucas tell, are borrowed and modified to fit. That is typical for science fiction. If you watch the original Star Trek, it is full of borrowed ideas and pulp science fiction ideas of the day as well as biting social commentary and just plain good stories. Few of them require a science fiction setting, but it gives the stories their color and the technology, even if never explained or even addressed on screen, provided inspiration to hundred of scientists and inventor. They never once talked about the sliding door or the medical monitor. They were just there, yet we now have sliding doors and medical monitors are standard in hospitals (though not cord free yet). Because of Star Wars, people want to find a way to make a lightsaber and holographic games. Why? because the tech inspired even if the story doesn’t depend on it. It enriches the story and give it the unique flavor.
So the tech setting of Star Wars does make it science fiction. Space wizards are typical fare for space opera. The Mule in the Foundation stories, Paul in Dune, Gary Mitchell in Star Trek.