"As Is" is not particularly concerned with social issues. It touches on the matter of a family being uprooted and moved at the whim of an employer indifferent to the trouble it causes the family, a common practice in America.

Even so, the sudden transfer of Sam Norton serves primarily as the motivation for setting the plot in motion, and it is not examined in detail. The social significance of this may be that the practice of uprooting families and sending them across a continent is so common that Silverberg does not believe that he needs to explain it to his audience.

Another issue that is bound to interest some readers is that of ownership of the automobile. It was left at an automobile dealership for repairs, with money to cover the repairs and a month's storage. After several months, the dealership sells the car to...