What do you call a place where certain ideas are prevalent?

Question

What noun could I use? "Hotbed"? "Hotspot"? Please don't mention the expression "safe state".

The city was hardly a liberal __________: the conservatives have won five consecutive elections there

FYI: _Hotbed_ is mainly used in a negative context. [Lexico](https://www.lexico.com/definition/hotbed) definition: "An environment promoting the growth of something, **especially something unwelcome.**" — ermanen, Jun 29 '22 at 09:32
May depend on the context: _bastion_ if the place is well-known for those ideas but they're under attack, _incubator_ if the place is just starting to adopt these ideas and _stronghold_ in between — mcalex, Jul 01 '22 at 05:35

score 36 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 29 '22 at 00:29

36

You can use stronghold figuratively which is also prevalent in political context.

figurative and in figurative contexts. Esp.: a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld. - OED

Here is a very similar usage I've found from a prominent newspaper, Toronto Sun, published in Toronto, Canada:

As a native Hamiltonian, let me tell you that the Liberals are faltering in Steeltown. The city was a Liberal stronghold for years, the base of John Munro and Sheila Copps, and now it’s mostly represented by the NDP and Conservatives.

answered Jun 29 '22 at 00:29

ermanen

590
3
6

1

Of all the suggestions so far, this is the only result for which I get any hits on Google's ngram viewer. – Darren Ringer Jun 29 '22 at 12:51
@DarrenRinger: "liberal bastion" [beats](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=liberal+bastion%2Cliberal+stronghold&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cliberal%20bastion%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cliberal%20stronghold%3B%2Cc0) "liberal stronghold" convincingly. Did you comment before "bastion" was suggested? Or perhaps you mistyped the word? – TonyK Jun 30 '22 at 12:37
For what it's worth, note the capital "L" in "Liberal" in the quote. Both John Munro and Sheila Copps were "Liberal Party" members of Parliament. In Canada, there's often a distinction between _"small L liberals"_ and _"Liberals"_ – Flydog57 Jul 01 '22 at 20:16
Here is an example in present tense and _liberal_ is with small "l": "New York City isn’t really Fox News territory. The city is a liberal stronghold – just 9.87% of people in Manhattan voted for Trump in 2016 – and home to the kind of liberals that Fox News spends much of its time criticizing." - [_theguardian.com_](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/17/fox-and-friends-fox-news-donald-trump) – ermanen Jul 01 '22 at 20:22

score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '22 at 22:55

31

"Hotbed" could work. Also consider "bastion", which is often used to describe a place in which certain political sentiments are strongly held:

anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.
a bastion of solitude
a bastion of democracy

answered Jun 28 '22 at 22:55

MarcInManhattan

10,673
1
19
35

What about hotspot? – Sergey Zolotarev Jun 29 '22 at 00:29
Perhaps, but I think it's weaker. At m-w.com it would fit under definition 1 ("a place of more than usual interest, activity, or popularity"), but it might get confused with definition 3, which I think is different from what you want. – MarcInManhattan Jun 29 '22 at 00:41
1

bastion is derived from a fortification, so it's the idea of a protected enclave of ideas. In this case, bastion, stronghold, or bulwark are all similar "defensive fortification" words that can be used in this political context. (Although bulwark is probably the least common of the three) – Robin Clower Jun 29 '22 at 15:17
1

upvoted for bastion specifically – barbecue Jun 29 '22 at 21:06
Bastion is good in most cases. I would add that because it means "fortress," it would imply that it has been that way for a while. For recent developments, "hotbed" or "becoming a bastion" would work better. – BillThePlatypus Jun 30 '22 at 00:21
Note the word order in the examples: "bastion of democracy." So you might have a *hotbed/bastion of liberalism.* I suppose you can write it the other way around (liberal hotbed/bastion) but I find the meaning not as instantly recognizable that way. – David K Jun 30 '22 at 00:26
@DavidK Google Ngrams has "bastion of liberalism" more popular than "liberal bastion", but not by much, which seems right to me (and is consistent with what you say). – MarcInManhattan Jun 30 '22 at 01:22
My m-w.com doesn't even have three meanings for that entry – Sergey Zolotarev Jul 01 '22 at 22:27
@SergeyZolotarev There is a link in my answer. It’s from the Collins Dictionary. – MarcInManhattan Jul 01 '22 at 23:30

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 29 '22 at 18:59

Nexus?

3: center, focus

The bookstore has become something of a nexus for the downtown neighborhood.

This term is value-neutral, without negative or positive connotations. But it has more of a sense of things coming together at a place; Merriam-Webster is correct with its "focus".

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 29 '22 at 21:09

4

If you want to suggest that a certain place is both a center of and a source of specific ideas, you can call it a hub.

answered Jun 29 '22 at 21:09

barbecue

1,271
12
16

Peter - Reinstate Monica · Answer 5 · 2022-07-01T10:00:56.580

Territory describes "an area that an animal or group of animals uses and defends"; in a somewhat metaphorical use one can use it for areas controlled by tribes, including virtual ones like political factions.

In an almost antithetical use of the word one could, in ironic exaggeration, say that the city is not exactly "liberal heartland". It's antithetical because heartland is typically used to for "the central geographical region of the U.S. in which mainstream or traditional values predominate", and not liberal ones.

If the city is surrounded by conservative rural places, as is often the case, one could also consider it an enclave ("a distinct territorial, cultural, or social unit enclosed within or as if within foreign territory") if it were liberal.

Since it is, probably against expectations, not liberal, it is "hardly a liberal enclave".

Deserves more votes! "hardly liberal territory", "an __ enclave" (where __ is conservative? Implication, it's surrounded by liberal territory) are both good suggestions — nigel222, Jul 01 '22 at 18:22

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 29 '22 at 15:17

1

The word "Bubble" would work well:

An enclosed or isolated sphere of experience or activity in which the like-minded members of a homogeneous community support and reinforce their shared opinions - Merriam-Webster

A situation in which you only experience things that you expect or find easy to deal with, for example opinions you agree with, or people who are similar to you - Cambridge Dictionary

answered Jun 29 '22 at 15:17

Daniel M.

111
2

I'm not so sure about this answer. "Bubble" is short for "living inside a bubble" or "within the bubble;" and the suggestion when combined with a particular view ("liberal bubble," "conservative bubble") *includes* the claim that such views are very or overwhelmingly common there but *also* suggests something *much stronger:* that people inside the bubble not only hold one view but are isolated from, do not understand or simply never encounter the outside atmosphere, i.e. alternative or rival views, unless/until they "break" the bubble they're in. Not all ideological hotspots are bubbles. – AlabamaScholiast Jun 29 '22 at 19:01
(Examples of usage: Eli Pariser's book *The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You*; Johnson and Peacock's ["How Do Recent College Graduates Navigate Ideological Bubbles? Findings From a Longitudinal Qualitative Study"](https://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-179), etc. etc. etc.) – AlabamaScholiast Jun 29 '22 at 19:03

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 29 '22 at 14:46

-1

"Monolith" comes to mind for me

a large and impersonal political, corporate, or social structure regarded as intractably indivisible and uniform.

answered Jun 29 '22 at 14:46

windwally

184
3

score -3 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 30 '22 at 11:11

[possessive 's'] paradise

an ideal or idyllic place or state. "the surrounding countryside is a walker['s paradise]"

"The city was hardly a place with liberal ideology: the conservatives have won five consecutive elections there."

"Ideological is an adjective that describes political, cultural, or religious beliefs. An ideology is a body of ideas, and those who agree with the main idea of something take an ideological stand to support it." – https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ideological

"Sanctuary city (French: ville sanctuaire; Spanish: ciudad santuario) refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law."

"The city was hardly a liberal sanctuary; the conservatives have won five consecutive elections there."

[possessive 's'] wet dream

informal. something especially appealing to a particular type of person

"hardly a liberal's wet dream"

Ngrams not found: *liberal's wet dream*.... *liberal sanctuary* and *liberal paradise* are almost non-existent. ***liberal ideology*** has more hits than *sanctuary city*. (but Ngram doesn't like possessives, so IDK....) Answer to the title is *ideological*. — Mazura, Jun 30 '22 at 11:26

What do you call a place where certain ideas are prevalent?

8 Answers8