"This description is equally applicable to contemporary conditions in other developed Western societies, including Australia. The contrast Franzen draws between social conditions in the late 19th century and the early 21st century illustrates another important feature of privacy: what privacy means and the degree to which privacy is a part of social practices is contingent on the social norms and standards of living prevailing in particular societies at particular times. Social and technological changes alter perceptions of what privacy entails in different social contexts. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the one given by Franzen: the enormous expansion in the amount of “private space” available to families and individuals in Western societies. The meaning and significance of privacy is also culturally specific. Privacy of personal space is far more highly valued in the liberal democracies of the Western world in which the nuclar family is the basic unit of social organisation and strong emphasis is place on the self-realisation and autonomy of the individual, than in more communitarian societies. Social and technological changes alter perceptions of what privacy entails in different social contexts.5 Perhaps the most striking example of this is the one given by Franzen: the enormous expansion in the amount of “private space” available to families and individuals in Western societies. The meaning and significance of privacy is also culturally specifc.. Privacy of personal space is far more highly valued in the liberal democracies of the Western world in which the nuclear family is the basic unit of social organisation and strong emphasis is placed on the self-realisation and autonomy of the individual, than in more communitaran societies.6"