Abstract Interculturality may be something normal which everyone possesses to a degree. However, dominant neo-essentialist theories of culture give the impression that we are too different to easily cross-cultural boundaries. These theories support the development of academic disciplines and the need for professional certainty in intercultural training. There is an illusion of neutrality in established cultural descriptions such as collectivism and individualism. The criticism of this position is that such theories and descriptions may instead be ideologically constructed, and represent an idealised Self and a demonised non-Western Other. This denial of ideology results in a liberal–essentialist duality which also underpins multiculturalism. A critical cosmopolitanist approach and a social action theory of society project a different picture of culture which resides in realities which respond to personal circumstances. A cultural realism not only acknowledges the influence of national structures but also ...