Why isn't Dragon Ball acknowledged more for its social commentary?

[ABED]

Yes, Freeza is based in part on land sharks, but I wouldn't call that social commentary. What is he saying other than "racism and stealing people's land is bad"?

[Desassina]

Why isn't Dragon Ball acknowledged more for its social commentary?

Because Akira Toriyama is inspired. He does not seek to be inspired, like a kid looking for attention with incessant rambling about things that he may not understand, so that a higher up goes down to him and pats him on the shoulder ("it's ok kid"), which is how I would describe Watsuki, for example, when he wrote Rurouni Kenshin. Toriyama copes with them instead. He's culturally aware, but wants to be playful with the things that do not deserve the exposition of a critic, and allows them to be read in spite of Dragon Ball being straight to the point. What happens is on the consumer side of things: they can either cling to or choose to interpret things their own way, running the risk of exposing themselves when it's the latter, because they do not know what goes in the author's mind.