Westin (1967) proposes that people need privacy. Privacy, in concert with other
needs, helps us to adjust emotionally to day-to-day interpersonal interactions.
For Westin, privacy is both a dynamic process (i.e., over time, we regulate privacy
so it is sufficient for serving momentary needs and role requirements) and a nonmonotonic
function (i.e., people can have too little, sufficient, or too much privacy).
Westin specifically limits his theory to Western democracies because privacy is
consistent with the sociopolitical values of these democracies. For Westin, privacy
is neither self-sufficient nor an end in itself, but a means for achieving the overall
end of self-realization.