Dystopian fiction

[Phil]

In the 1984 forum someone is doing a survey for a school project about the effect of dystopian fiction (1984, The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner etc.) on young readers. I think she asks a lot of good questions but was surprised by one of her opening statements. She says that "Dystopian fiction is often mistaken for science fiction". I know I would consider it a sub-category of SF like alternative history or space opera.
Is this a popular opinion or is she trying to put some distance between the two in order to elevate her pet genre?

[Sutherland]

I haven't heard that myself. Though as someone who separates post apocalyptic (large scale society is over) from dystopia (oppressive large scale society) I can see getting annoyed at people stepping on your personal genre divisions.