I am writing a paper which involves references to different theories.
I wonder if you should use an article before, for example "social exchange theory" or not. I searched for it on Google Books and found some publications where the article is omitted and some where it is used.
The problem here is that "theory" can mean different things in different contexts. It can be used to refer to both a very specific and singular idea or explanation (for example: the theory of general relativity), or it can refer to a broad category of thought or study (for example: game theory).
In this case, "social exchange theory" appears to be a case of the latter usage of "theory", referring to a broad category of study, so you would not modify it with "the" in this case.
It can also be said that using "the" in front a theory makes it more definitive, so usage of "the" might be reserved for theories which reach a certain level of acceptance within a given scholarly or scientific community.
