Toward a General Utilization Theory

This article attempts to provide a proper basis for a general utilization theory. Despite a bulk of research in the field, the state of the art in utilization theory is poorly developed, being dominated by the two-communities approach. This approach, however, is more a metaphor than a true theory and hence, the article argues, all attempts to theorize in the two-communities perspective are bound to fail because of its basically culturalistic conception. The thesis proposed is that this culturalistic conception must be replaced by a system theory approach. The theoretical outline of this systems theory conception may well shed new light on several continuing problems in the field of utilization research.