Where to put the theoretical framework in a PhD dissertation (social sciences)
A different structure works for different manuscripts. However, the theoretical framework typically follows after the introduction and the literature review. The review should motivate the research question and the methodological and theoretical approach. The latter is then explained in the theory chapter, the former in a subsequent methodological chapter or subchapter. The methods chapter then bridges the theoretical and the empirical part of your study:


intro
review
theory
methods
empirics 1-n
analysis/discussion
conclusion