"Buck Rogers is a science fiction (and later, particularly space opera) character created by Philip Francis Nowlan in the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., subsequently appearing in multiple media".

Star Wars is basically that, as a movie, tuned and optimized. It's a complicated question, but I think it's quite possible Star Wars would not and could not exist in the absence of the original, pre-Star-Wars, novella.

Which became all sorts of things such as comic strips… but started as a book.

but what is the social impact of star wars besides spawning sequels?

A ton of cheap plastic light sabers at birthday parties. And millions of Yoda one-liners all over.