Can you list some works of science fiction, where an alien planet has multiple distinct cultures, that are not set up purely to establish conflict for the plot?

I don’t think that’s true of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar novels. There are conflicts, but I don’t think that’s the point of having the different cultures. I think they advance the plot and make you think about humanness and how it can be found anywhere: evil within good cultures and goodness within evil ones.

That’s a good point, Rags. I’ve read probably as much science fiction as you have. I have a buddy of mine who is a science fiction writer—I’ll ask him when I see him next.

Damn alien stereotypes..It’s all ignorance!
https://vimeo.com/19071448

The Jetsons?

Have you read “The Songs of Distant Earth” is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clark? It’s a story about how humans set up a colony on a far off mostly ocean world in the year 3109. They lived peacefully even when another space ship (carrying 900,000 people) from Earth landed in 3800’s. There was apprehension about how the two groups would get along. Everything worked out peacefully. I think that the giant intelligent sea scorpions (“Scorps”) were added for fun. And they were pretty much left alone except when the Scorps would steal stuff. Great book!

Good question, and hard to answer. Dave Wolverton’s Dronon series, maybe. Or John Varley’s Gaea trilogy? Sharon Shinn’s Samaria books. CJ Cherryh’s Chanur series might be another contender. Oh, and how about the Hitchhiker’s Guide, does that count?

Plots in all the above series contain some events involving the different cultures, but I wouldn’t say any of them invent all their cultures just for the plots. More like the authors enjoyed inventing cultures and then let the plots wind through them, sometimes deeply and sometimes shallowly.

Star Wars, the planet of Tatooine. Quite a mixture that were not at each other’s throats.